Chaotic Evil
by Heartless Nobody
Summary: Post Shadow the Hedgehog Ending 1. Shadow has all 7 Chaos Emeralds and now leads over the Black Arms, having killed Black Doom in betrayl. Now the Sonic Team must protect their city and own lives from the Ultimate Lifeform's wrath. SonamyKnuxougeTaiream
1. Chapter 1

(After much thought and failed ideas, I think I've finally come out with a worthy chapter fic for the Sonic genre. This takes place after one the first "Dark" ending of Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow has collected all the Chaos Emeralds, and defeated Sonic and Diablon in combat. What will he do now? I don't own Sonic, Shadow, or any of the SEGA characters.)

CHAPTER 1

Shadow the Hedgehog stood proudly in the core of GUN's fortress, the wreckage of GUN's latest weapon, Diablon, and a wounded Sonic the Hedgehog nearby. The 7 Chaos Emerald circled around him, showing that his quest had been complete. "Finally! He said with a tone of satisfaction. "I've got all the Chaos Emeralds!"

Sonic weakly picked himself up off the ground, ignoring the pain in his body as he stood up defiantly, glaring at Shadow with suspicion and disbelief. "Shadow!" He shouted at his rival. "What are you gonna do with them?"

Shadow looked at Sonic, his eyes narrowed, with an evil smile on his face as all 7 Chaos Emerald circled around him. "I am Shadow the Hedgehog." Shadow announced with an ominous tone. "I was created to bring order and justice to the humans. With the power of these Emeralds...I'm going to destroy this damn planet! This is who I am! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" His evil laughter echoed throughout the entire GUN base. GUN soldiers throughout the building could hear the wicked laughter that filled them with a terror never felt before, like a demon had suddenly erupted from the depths of hell.

Sonic could hardly believe his ears. This wasn't like Shadow at all. Why was he doing this? "Shadow… ARE YOU INSANE?" Sonic walked over angrily to his rival. "After your whole quest to recover your memory, you simply just want to destroy the Earth?"

Shadow snorted. "Do you have a problem with that, Faker?"

"As a matter of fact I do!" Sonic yelled at him. "This is insane! Just because of what happened in the past, doesn't mean that everyone's to blame! If Maria knew about this, she'd be very upset with your choice and attitude!"

"MUAHAHAHA!" Shadow almost seemed amused by Sonic's words. "There's no such thing as an innocent human being! All life on this planet shall die by my hand! I don't give a fuck about Maria's death anymore! Black Doom showed me that it was holding me back, from my TRUE nature!" He raised a glowing hand. "Don't believe me? Watch this! CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow fired a blast of chaos energy from his hand that zipped right past Sonic, and straight for the Diablon. The Commander never even had time to scream as the Diablon suddenly exploded into a million pieces. Fire, ash, scrap metal, and the stench of burning flesh filled the air as the leader of GUN and Diablon were no more.

Sonic stared in horror at what just transpired before him. How could Shadow do something like this? Had the Black Arms really corrupted him to the point where he'd take an innocent life in the blink of an eye? Angrily, he turned to Shadow and stood ready to attack him.

"Hahahaha… That felt good…" Shadow said, staring at the flaming wreckage before him with sadistic eyes. "He was my first victim; the leader of the very soldiers that tried to stop me before!" He noticed Sonic's fighting stance, as if he wanted another battle. "Hmf… Save some for later. You're in no shape to fight me, Faker. I'll let you go for now, so I suggest you heal up until the next time we meet…" Shadow closed his eyes as the emeralds drew themselves closer around him. "Superb power… CHAOS CONTROL!" In a flash, Shadow was gone.

"Damn it!" Sonic pounded the ground with his fists, before turning back to the flaming wreckage of the Diablon. "Poor Guy…he never even had a chance to escape… UGH!" He clutched his side. "Shadow banged me up pretty good…"

"I'll say, my Grandfather's creation certainly gone off the deep end."

Sonic looked up to see a familiar flying pod ship, driven by a familiar mustachioed scientist. "Eggman?" He smiled faintly. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"

"Never mind sore eyes, sore everything is what I can see of you." Eggman noted, looking at Sonic's injuries. "What in blazes happened?"

"Shadow…" Sonic said solemnly. "He's sided with the Black Arms and has all 7 Chaos Emeralds. He just killed GUN's commander and left with Chaos Control."

Eggman's face seemed to be written with fear as Sonic relayed his story. "Egad… This is quite the predicament. But before we discuss this any further, might I suggest we leave this facility?"

"You read my mind Doctor." Sonic laughed weakly.

"I had a feeling you wouldn't be at 100 health when I found you." Eggman said pulling out a canister filled with glowing bluish-white energy. "So I brought this along. It's an invention my grandfather made." He tossed it Sonic's way, where it broke apart, bathing Sonic in the energy.

"Whoa… I can feel my strength coming back to me!" Sonic was able to stand, jump up and do a quick spin attack in mid air, before landing back on the ground. "Let's blow this pop stand before GUN shows up." With that he sped off for the exit.

"And I'd best return to my base." Eggman said to no one in particular.

7 minutes later…

Sonic rushed straight through the hanger gates of the base, reaching the outside and seeing GUN soldiers running all around, possibly unaware at the time that their commander was dead. The Black Arms Aliens seemed to have pulled out from the base, and the soldiers were attending to their wounded, checking up on supplies, and fixing any damaged equipment. As Sonic remembered passing through HQ, he had seen all the damage that the Black Arms had done, and it wasn't pretty. "Man… The Black Arms really did a number on this place… But why did they suddenly up and leave? Did Black Doom order them to, or did Shadow Chaos Control them to safety?" Putting those thoughts aside, he could see Tails and Amy Rose waving to him in the distance next to the Tornado. "Alright, there they are just like they said they'd be." He said with relief as he ran towards them, skidding to a halt when he got close. "Whew, finally made it out of there." As if on queue he was greeted with a big hug from Amy.

"Sonic!" Amy called as she gave her blue hero a big hug. "Oh thank goodness. You're ok!"

"Ow… Easy Amy, I'm still a little tender after the fight." Though the healing canister had done its job, Sonic was still feeling a little sore all over.

Amy quickly pulled away, realizing she should have been gentler. "Oh! I'm sorry Sonic… How bad does it hurt?"

"Eggman threw me a healing canister so I was able to make it out of there, but I'm still a bit sore from the fight. Shadow wasn't pulling any punches back there. That's for sure." Sonic replied rubbing his lower back. "But thanks for caring." He gave her a smile, causing Amy to blush slightly and smile back.

"So Sonic?" Tails interrupted with a serious look. "What happened to Shadow?"

Sonic sported his own serious look as he looked back at GUN HQ. "Shadow's got all 7 Chaos Emeralds in his possession now. He used his Chaos Spear and Barbequed GUN's Commander."

Tails and Amy both gasped in horror.

"He's probably reporting back to Black Doom even as we speak. I'd say we've got quite a battle on our hands…"

Elsewhere, on the Black Comet…

Shadow materialized in the core of the Black Arms' base, with the chaos emeralds in tow. When he opened his eyes, he found Black Doom waiting for him within the black/purple/grey/red stony area, as the said dark robed alien overlord floated towards him, his form blacking out the lit background of the core.

"Well done Shadow…" Black Doom rasped. "I see you've gotten all the Chaos Emeralds and executed that foolish Commander."

"Yes. GUN's leader has been disposed of just as you asked." Shadow confirmed and waved a hand, making all 7 chaos emeralds land at Black Doom's bottom robes, since he had no feet. "Here are the emeralds."

"Excellent work… Now you have fulfilled your destiny, and have proven yourself to be one of us." Black Doom praised, his eyes twinkling evilly.

"So… What is the Black Arms next objective?" Shadow asked suddenly.

"Now that we have the emeralds…" Black Doom explained. "We can easily dominate this bothersome planet and cleanse it of all human life. I'll start off by sending out a full force of our soldiers to overtake GUN Headquarters, and wipe out those human soldiers." He turned his back to Shadow as he began to pace. "Once they're gone, Earth's only defense will be that idiotic Sonic and his Freedom Fighter friends. But even they won't be able to stop us for long. We'll be able to use the human army base as a branch for our own army."

Shadow nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a great plan…only one small problem."

"Problem? What do you mean?" Black Doom did not like his authority challenged, and demanded just WHAT Shadow's reason was. He turned around to glare angrily at Shadow.

"The problem is…" Shadow began calmly, before his eyes shot open. "You won't be the one to lead them!" He vanished from sight with Chaos Control.

Black Doom's eyes darted around the room as he searched for Shadow. "You dare to challenge me?"

"Oh I AM challengeing you." Shadow's voice corrected. "And you know what…" He suddenly materialized right behind Black Doom. "CHAOS SPEAR!" A bolt of light shot from Shadow's outstretched hand, and blasted right through Black Doom's left shoulder blade, and out through his left breast.

"GOOOOOOUUUUUUHH!" Black blood spurted from out of the enormous hole in Black Doom's chest spilling all over the stone floor. He fell to the ground, almost motionless, barely breathing. "Why….?" He gasped. "Why…have…you…betrayed me?"

Shadow walked towards Black Doom's corpse, until he was walking right on top of his back. "I have no desire to follow YOUR order Black Doom! Like I said before, NO ONE tells me what to do. "But I AM interested in leading the Black Arms myself…and as for you…" Shadow gave one swift swipe, and ripped Black Doom's head from his body. Once more, Black Doom's blood stained the rocky floor with splotches of black, as Shadow raised the head to eye level. "Well you'll serve as food for your own spawn…or should I say MY spawn?" With a laugh, Shadow dropped Black Doom's head to the floor and stomped on it, watching as blood and brains splattered everywhere. Shadow's evil laughter echoed through the walls of the black comet, as Black Arms spawn appeared to devour the corpse of Black Doom. The 7 Chaos Emeralds began to glow and circle around Shadow, filling the core room with bright colored light. "Hear me Black Arms!" He called out. "Black Doom is no more than feed for the spawn! I am your new leader! Side with me, and together we'll conquer the humans and take this planet for our own! What do you say?"

As if on queue, the many forms of Black Arms soldiers materialized into the room and began to gather around Shadow. In 5 seconds, they bent down onone knee and bowed respectfully to Shadow, showing their allegiance to him.

Shadow smiled sinisterly as he gazed at his new army. "You have all made a wise decision…my Black Arms…MUAHAHAHAHAHA!"

TO BE CONTINUED


	2. Chapter 2

(Looks like Shadow's chosen his destiny, and it doesn't look too good… What will Sonic and the gang do now? I don't own Sonic, Shadow, or any of SEGA's beloved charas.)

CHAPTER 2

'I still can't believe this… It all seems like a bad dream… Shadow's really gone off the deep end. I thought programming the ARK's Eclipse Cannon to destroy the Earth was a bad move, but this is MUCH worse!' Sonic's mind was going a mile a minute as he kept replaying that one image in his mind, over and over again. The very image of Shadow announcing his newly chosen path and killing GUN's commander like that still seemed like a bad nightmare; one that Sonic desperately wanted to wake up from. What made it worse was how Shadow and the Black Arms had just suddenly disappeared into thin air. Reports had come in that areas recently under siege from the Black Arms were mysteriously deemed safe. When Shadow vanished, it seemed as though he had taken the aliens with him. What was he planning? When was he going to strike? When were the Black Arms going to strike? WHERE would they strike? Sonic had so many questions burning within his mind he felt as though his brain would be set ablaze.

"SONIC!"

"Huh?" Sonic was snapped out of his train of thought by a loud shout. He found himself back in Tails' workshop seated near the workbench with Tails staring at him with annoyance.

"Finally, I got your attention." Tails exclaimed.

"Sorry Tails…" Sonic rubbed the back of his head. "I was just thinking about today's recent events."

"Yeah, we're all pretty much shocked about Shadow's betrayal." Tails admitted. "Since he has the Chaos Emeralds, that gives the Black Arms a HUGE advantage. We're gonna need all the help we can get if we're gonna beat them."

"I just wish I knew what was going through Shadow's mind then and now." Sonic said. "It's like he's turned his back on everything he once stood for, including Maria. Just what did the Black Arms show or tell him?"

"I don't know for sure, but it looks like Shadow's our enemy once again. With all 7 Chaos Emeralds in his grasp, he might be unstoppable!" Tails fretted.

"But we can't give up hope, right?" Amy suddenly appeared at the doorway. "There has to be at least a small light of good in Shadow….can't there?" She looked at Sonic hopefully, praying that she wasn't wrong.

Sonic shook his head sadly. "I hate to say it Amy, but I think any ounce of goodness in Shadow has vanished completely. The next time we see him, there's a very good chance we could end up fighting him."

"I see…" Amy looked at the floor sadly. She didn't want to have to fight Shadow, whom she considered a friend, just as much as Sonic and Tails. But now, it seemed as though it was inevitable.

BOOP! BOOP! Tails' computer suddenly flashed with an incoming transmission. Tails rushed to his computer and confirmed that he wanted the message to come through. Eggman's visage popped up onto the screen. "About time you showed up Eggman." Tails actually looked relieved to see their longtime nemesis.

"Ah yes… Sorry to keep you waiting." Eggman apologized. "But I think you'll like what news I have to bring. Apparently, one of my aerial spy robots managed to bring back an interesting video." Then his face went grim. "Well, interesting isn't the right word…it's more like disturbing, as it concerns Shadow and the Black Arms. Let's just say, that Black Doom is officially the least of our problems. You'd best come to my hideout and see it for yourself, and bring Sonic and Amy with you."

"Alright then, we'll be there as soon as possible." Tails said, before breaking off the connection.

"Well Tails?" Sonic said. "What did Eggman have to say?"

"Apparently one of his spy bots brought something from within the Black Comet." Tails explained. "It has to do with Shadow. He said something about "Black Doom being the least of our worries.""

Sonic felt his heart drop to his feet. 'Damn it Shadow, what have you done now?' He thought. "We'd better get the Tornado ready. I want to see what's on that video and fast."

Elsewhere… On Angel Island…

Knuckles sighed as he stood at the Emerald alter, gazing at the Master Emerald. "I wish I knew what was going on down below…" Knuckles said aloud. "Ever since I heard about Shadow, I've been on pins and needles ever since about those Black Aliens." He looked up to the sky. "Where are they now? Will they attack here, and take the Master Emerald? Should I be guarding the emerald or helping my friends out?" He paced about the white marble floor of the alter ground. "I'm not sure what I should be doing now!"

"Well for one thing you can try to stop pacing around. You're making me dizzy just watching you." A sexy female voice said.

Knuckles turned to the direction of one of the many alter pillars, hearing the voice coming from it. "Who's there?" He demanded, raising his fists. "If you're here for the emerald, you'll have to get through me!" The owner of the voice stepped out from behind the pillar letting Knuckles get a good look at her. He slowly lowered his fists as he saw who it was.

Rouge the Bat slinked out sexily from behind the pillar. "Hey Knuckles… You look a bit tense." She was actually looking at him with concern. "And I think I know why, after watching you pace and think aloud for a while."

Knuckles sighed. "Those black aliens just have me on edge right now. And it doesn't help that Shadow's on their side with all 7 Chaos Emeralds…" He shivered. "Who knows what they're planning, or what HE'S planning."

Rouge just nodded solemnly. "I'm worried too. I never thought Shadow of all people, even with his tainted past would side with those aliens and actually be out to destroy the Earth." Then she gave Knuckles a small smile. "But there is one upside… I won't be trying to steal the Master Emerald for a while."

Knuckles couldn't help but laugh at that. "Well then if you didn't come to steal the Master Emerald, what DID you come for?" But his laughter trailed off and ended with a gulp as he noticed the seductive way Rouge was walking towards him.

"Aw… Can't I visit my favorite knucklehead from time to time?" Rouge mock pouted as she swayed her hips two and fro.

Knuckles' head just seemed to lose all thoughts, as his eyes focused on Rouge's swaying hips. The only sound he could utter was a stuttering slur of sounds.

Rouge giggled. 'Poor Knuxie… Whenever a pretty face comes his way, he completely turns to jelly.' She thought as she stopped right in front of Knuckles, leaning in forward, giving him quite the view of her bosom. "You know… You're way too tense at times…" She said to him slowly and seductively, as she began to run her hands down his chest. She then moved towards his ear and gave him a soft sensuous whisper. "You need to loosen up more often…"

Knuckles shivered with pleasure as he felt Rouge whisper near his ear. 'Damn bat girl…' He whimpered mentally. 'Does she know what she's doing to me?' The soft touch of Rouge's velvet gloved hands were enough to drive him wild with desire, as he suddenly felt very warm in his lower abdomen.

Rouge moved her caresses from the front, to Knuckles' back. "I know just what you need…" She said playfully, and moved her hands up to Knuckles' shoulders. She began to massage them.

"D'ooooooooh…" Knuckles moaned out loud before all his senses just seemed to block up with sheer bliss, although the only sense he was aware of right now, was his sense of touch, as he felt Rouge's "magic fingers' rub into his most tense muscles. He almost felt that he would melt into a puddle right there. 'My God… She's so good…' He thought. His whole body just went as limp as spaghetti as he let Rouge work her magic.

'Look at him…' Rouge thought with amusement and fondness. 'All limp and willing from one massage… He's just like a little red kitten.' She smiled away. 'When he's not so uptight and defensive about his Emerald, he's actually quite cute. I bet I could do anything to him right now…' As she kept massaging his shoulder and back she leaned over to his neck, puckered her lips and started to kiss it.

Knuckles already had a relaxing massage going on, but now he felt kisses upon his neck. 'The little vixen…' He thought to himself. 'Well two can play at this little game…' He reached back with his arms and wrapped them around rouge's waist, pulling her closer towards him. He could feel her large breasts press against his back. 'Whoa… They're even bigger than I thought…'

Knuckles' actions certainly took Rouge by surprise, but she wasn't complaining. 'Mm… His fur's so soft…and what nice scent he has too…' She moved her own arms and wrapped them around his own frame, continuing trailing her kisses around his neck.

Knuckles however, was prepared for a counter as he leaned back and planted his own kisses on Rouge's face, moving down to her neck.

Rouge immediately stopped as she felt Knuckles' own kisses against her skin. 'Oh my…' Now it was her turn to turn to jelly.

'Got her…" Knuckles thought. 'Now to show her how the echidnas do it…' He turned right around and moved his kisses upon the upper part of her breasts, making her moan slightly. He then started returning the massage she gave before, giving her one of his own. He rubbed her lower back muscles delicately, and he swore that he could hear a low soft purring sound coming from her as he worked his charm.

As Rouge felt kisses and massages all over her, she felt her lower abdomen growing warmer and her heart beating faster. Her face was heating up as she felt desire overcoming her. 'What…is he doing to me? Does he realize what he's making me feel?' She felt the last of her will power slip away, and with that she grabbed Knuckles' face and planted a big kiss right on the lips.

This REALLY caught Knuckles off guard. Rouge's sudden kiss hit him like a splash of warm water. He could feel sensations he never thought he could feel. 'Oh my god… This is my first kiss!' Knuckles screamed mentally. The guardian of the Floating Island had indeed, received his first kiss, and he liked it. Following his heart and gut instincts he returned the kiss to Rouge in full, both shocking and pleasing her.

Both guardian and jewel hunter wrapped their warms around one another, deepening their kiss as they both moved themselves from the marble floor of the emerald alter and onto the soft green grass where they continued to make out, finally giving into their desires and emotions that they had kept bottled up so long. With the recent and current turn of events now seemed as good a time as any to admit their loves and desires.

Up above in the sky, leering down at Angel Island, either oblivious or uncaring to what was transpiring on the island earth below, Shadow the Hedgehog floated in the sky, the 7 Chaos Emeralds circling around him. "Ah… If it isn't Angel Island… I wonder what Knuckles is doing now? Possibly still guarding the Master Emerald, like the fool he is." He laughed. "Well, the Black Arms are getting along fine with the 7 Chaos Emeralds…but I suppose a little something extra, maybe as a reserve power source couldn't hurt." He snapped his fingers and 4 Black Arms Giants, both wielding the jagged magenta bladed swords of their race, appeared before him. However, unlike when Shadow had met them before, they were now sporting a strange, black armor, similar to the one worn by Eggman's "hammer soldiers." "I have an assignment for you. I want you to go down to that Island, and steal the giant green Chaos Emerald. If anyone gets in your way, you have permission to kill them. Now go!" He watched as the giants descended to Angel Island with a wicked smile. "Let's see if you can defend your emerald from these intruders, Knuckles…"

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Chapter 3

_(Shadow's made his first move, and it looks like he's targeting the Master Emerald and Floating Island first. Knuckles and Rouge better be prepared for the rude awakening that's coming soon. I don't own Sonic, Shadow or any of SEGA'S mascots.)_

**CHAPTER 3**

The Black Arms Giants landed on the flowing green grass; their black, scaly talon feet digging into the earth, and their clawed hands gripping the handles of their great swords as their yellow eyes searched the fields. Their sights soon fell upon of a set of ruins in the distance, which included what appeared to be a great marble alter, complete with a giant green Chaos Emerald. That was their target, what their master had ordered them to steal, and they were going to follow through with it and eliminate anyone who stood in their way.

Knuckles lay in the grass, staring up at the blue sky above him, littered with fluffy white clouds. He then looked down in his arms, to the beautiful jewel hunter bat girl that lay curled up asleep in his arms, her head laying on his chest. 'She looks so cute when she sleeps. Seems that's the only time she can control her libido.' He thought the last sentence with amusement as he rubbed Rouge's back, causing a small content purr to escape her lips.

Rouge stirred slightly before nuzzling her face against the fur of Knuckles' chest. "Mmm… So soft and silky…" She cooed, stroking Knuckles chest. "I could get used to being in your arms, Knuxie…" She giggled.

"I know I could get used to having you in them, Rouge." Knuckles retorted, hugging her and kissing her cheek.

Suddenly, Rouge's ears twitched, picking up the sounds of incoming footsteps. "Knuckles… I think we've got some unwanted company coming our way…"

Soon Knuckles as hearing the footsteps too. They were big…and heavy. "Aw man…" Both of them stood up. "I hope it's not what I think it is…"

Their eyes watched the nearest hill carefully, hearing the footsteps get louder and louder, and then began to widen as they saw a few familiar and not so friendly forms rise their black and red tinted faces, as the Black Arms Giants suddenly marched into view brandishing their swords, ready for a fight.

"Grrrr…" Knuckles clenched and raised his fists. "I knew the Black Arms would show up sooner or later… I bet Shadow sent them."

"Then I think it's time to send these boys home to their momma!" Rouge said, flying into the air. She launched three of her fake rings at the one giant, and they paralyzed him in a moment with their electric field.

"You read my mind." Knuckles replied. He bent over and dug his fists into the ground, and then gave one loud grunt as he ripped up a large chunk of earth in his hands. He threw it at the nearest incoming giant, smacking it in the face and almost toppling it over and then dashed for it with a doubled fisted punch, ramming the creature right in the chest causing it to stumble backwards.

Rouge was dodging violent sword swipes from the other 2 giants, but was finding it hard to keep it up, as despite their size, the giants were quick with their strokes and she nearly lost her left wing after dodging one stray magenta blade. They were slashing at her so quickly she couldn't have time to get in an attack.

Knuckles turned his attention from the previous giant to the ones that were pestering Rouge. Strapping on the metallic digger claws, which he always kept around in case he needed to search for treasure such as a chaos emerald, he started to burrow under the ground like a mole and made his way underneath to where the giants were. Once he was underneath where he could hear their footsteps, he burst out of the ground, sending the 2 giants flying into the air. "It's up…and it's good!" He yelled, quoting a football line.

However, the victory was short lived as both giants landed on their feet, while the other 2 broke out of their current dazes and by their narrowed eyes they were none too happy as they charged towards Knuckles and Rouge.

"What the Hell?" Knuckles exclaimed. "There's not even a scratch on them?" He dug out another chunk of earth and tossed it at the lead giant, but it merely just swung its sword, destroying the mound of soil and rock.

The giant wiped the dirt and soil off of its face and pointed its sword to the ground before plunging the blade deep into the soil. The ground began to shake violently, as the earth beneath Knuckles began to crack and splinter his way.

Before the ground could open up and swallow Knuckles, Rouge flew down and scooped Knuckles up, carrying him into the air. "Those Black Arms giants could never do THAT before." She commented.

"And they never wore that armor either. It seems to be what's protecting them from our attacks." Knuckles then noticed there were only two giants before them. "Wait… Where are the other two?"

"Knuckles look!" Rouge pointed to the Emerald Altar, where the other two giants were running towards, no doubt after the Master Emerald. The two giants in front of them meanwhile, seemed determined to block their path as they advanced on the two, with swords raised above their heads.

Knuckles growled as Rouge put him down. "Shadow is REALLY pushing it… Rouge, you fly over and try to stop or at least stall those giants, I'll handle these two. We can't let Shadow get the Master Emerald."

"Right, I'm not letting some black alien lowlifes take over my job." Rouge half joked as she flew towards the Emerald Altar.

Knuckles made a "come here" motion to the two giants in front of him. "Just come and get some…" He challenged.

Meanwhile…

Sonic, Tails, and Amy found themselves walking through the cold metal hallway into Eggman's computer room. As the automatic doors swished open, Eggman sat in his chair, with his back turned, eyeing the large screen in front of him. On the screen was an image from inside of the Black Comet, with a legion of Black Arms all bowing before Shadow who stood before them on a rocky platform, appearing to be giving a speech of some sort to them.

Eggman heard the doors open behind them and swung his chair around to face the trio. "Ah… It's about time you came here. If you were wondering about the video I wanted to show you, come closer and take a look." His face was grave. "I can already say that you're NOT going to like what you see."

Sonic turned his attention to the large screen that Eggman was seated in front of. Playing on the screen was the recording that Eggman's spy satellite had gathered from within the Black Comet. He watched as the camera panned over the large audience of Black Arms Soldiers before panning to, and closing in on, the form of Shadow who seemed to be staring out into the vast sea of Black Arms, with an evil smile on his face.

"Fellow Black Arms!" He bellowed. "We are now one step ahead of the human, what with the 7 chaos emeralds in our grasp, and I, the Ultimate Life form shall be leading you to total domination over those worthless humans. However, this is only the beginning. I think we need a few extra tasks, to show our power. First of all… We must raid "Angel Island" and rob it of its precious Master Emerald. Although the 7 chaos emeralds give us enough power, the Master Emerald will double or even triple it! Secondly, we must wipe out Earth's primary defense forces. Of course, I'm talking about the very military that threatened my life and future even to this day…GUN!" Shadow shuddered as he mentioned their name. "GUN has tried to off me for the last time! I say we give them a taste of their own medicine! I've already annihilated their Commander. The rest will be easy pickings, as well as the President. Once the President and GUN have been taken out, we can easily mow down human civilization. As for Sonic and his Freedom Fighters… They should be no threat to us any longer. If they stand in our way…WE WILL CRUSH THEM!" Shadow shot a "chaos spear" upon a nearby pillar, causing it to topple and crumbled to dust, earning a cheer from the Black Arms. "HAIL THE BLACK ARMS!" They chanted. "HAIL SHADOW THE HEDGEHOG!"

Sonic narrowed his eyes and growled menacingly at the image before him. "That fucking monster… He's planning to wipe out the entire planet!"

Tails could only stare out in disbelief. "So this…this is Shadow's true nature?"

Amy shared the same furious expression as Sonic. "It looks like we were wrong about him… There's not a trace of good left in him…"

Sonic turned away from the monitor, to face his friends. "If Shadow wants to start a war, he's gonna have to get through us first! We'll show him that he can't just mow human lives as if they were weeds in a garden! Are you guys with me?" He held out his hand.

"YEAH!" Tails and Amy both piled their hands on top of Sonic's in agreement, all sharing the same thought: Stop Shadow.

"DAMN IT!" Eggman suddenly cursed out from the side, drawing attention to him self. "We've got another problem on our hand!" He pointed to another monitor. "It looks as though Shadow's already followed through with the first step of his plan!" On the screen in front of him seemed to be what looked like the grassy landscapes of Angel Island. But what was going on did not blend in with the peaceful scenery. What they saw was the image of Knuckles, fighting for his life, against two Black Arms giants, both wielding lethal swords and slashing like mad at the echidna that was doing his best to dodge them barely managing to escape being slashed. From another camera, there was Rouge, trying in vain to protect the Master Emerald, while not getting sliced and diced herself.

"Oh God! Knuckles! Rouge! We've got to save them!" Tails panicked

'Damn it Shadow… You're starting to piss me off…' Sonic thought. 'First you kill off one of Central City's defenders, and now you're going after my friends?' The more Sonic thought of Shadow's heinous acts, the angrier he got… And the angrier he got, the more he began to shake with rage.

Amy noticed Sonic's disgruntlement and shaking as he stared at the image before him. Worrying for his well being and to focus on the task at hand, she tugged at his arm. "Sonic? Sonic, it's not too late. Knuckles and Rouge are in danger, but they haven't been mortally wounded." She coaxed, hoping to calm him down a little."

Sonic shook his head, trying to get back on track. "Yes… You're right, Amy. Let's get there before they receive ANY injuries, minor or mortal. We can't let the Black Arms get the Master Emerald OR harm Knuckles and Rouge." He bolted out of the room, with Tails and Amy hot on his heels.

Eggman was left in his room, turning his attention back to the fight, just in time to see Rouge manage to dodge just in time, allowing both her attackers to knock into each other, and Knuckles trip one of his giants up, before turning to the camera that viewed Shadow.

Leaning against the desk he sighed to himself. "So this is the true purpose of my Grandfather's experiment… Looks like carelessness hounds my family like a curse. In my Grandfather's case…his carelessness might cost us our very own world." He then peered at another screen, which showed Sonic, Amy and Tails flying towards Angel Island on the Tornado. "What will you do now Sonic?" He asked to no one in particular. "Are you still going to try to talk some sense into Shadow? Or has any hope for him died within you?" For once, Eggman did not have a devious look upon his face, but one of questioning and inquiry. "Whatever your choice is, it appears I'll have to play a hand in this matter…"

Sonic meanwhile, was battling his own thoughts as he and his friends drew close to Angel Island. 'So…you don't care about Maria anymore, huh Shadow? You'd really throw it all away, just for power and dominance over others? Is this your true purpose?' He scowled deeply, his eyes narrowing. 'Maybe we WERE wrong about you… You're worse than Eggman, or Metal Sonic, or any other villains we've faced… Maybe, I just pray…that MAYBE, there's still one last bit of good in you… I hope…'

Amy meanwhile watched Sonic's face intently. She didn't know EXACTLY what Sonic was thinking, but she had a rough idea. He was obviously trying to make out how to deal with Shadow, but was at a loss. She herself wasn't sure, but she just hoped that Sonic didn't do anything rash.

**TO BE CONTINUED**


	4. Chapter 4

(Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Where the hell has this moron been?" Sorry everyone. I've been getting into Sprite Comics lately, and it seems I've been neglecting my author duties. Anyhow, Sonic and friends are off to Angel Island, where Knuckles and Rouge are busy holding off the Black Arms giants. What will happen? I don't own Sonic, Shadow, the Black Arms or anything)

CHAPTER 4

The Tornado drew closer and closer to Angel Island which was no longer on the horizon, but was merely a few miles from them. Sonic, as usual, was anxious and antsy, but not just because he was eager for action, but because he was worried about his friends' safety. If they had even a scar on them, Sonic would be serving Black Arms stew for dinner, with a side order of black hedgehog salad. If Rouge and Knuckles got hurt…Shadow was in BIG trouble.

SMACK!

Knuckles went flying as a huge black scaly fist connected with his face, almost making him spit up blood as he flew through the air, and hit the dirt, flat on his back. He scrambled to get back up, only to resort to rolling, as a jagged magenta blade almost came crashing down on him. When he stopped rolling, he looked next to him just in time to see Rouge slam into the ground, looking bruised and shaken from her fight with the other 2 giants. "Rouge!" He sat up and cradled her in his arms. "Rouge, are you ok?"

Rouge didn't move or answer.

"Rouge! Wake up!" Knuckles gently shook her, but to no avail. When he looked up, he noticed all 4 giants crowding around him. The Master Emerald wasn't in their possession, but all that seemed like small potatoes now. "Oh crap…" He murmured as he held Rouge close. Suddenly, he could hear the faint echoing of laughter, which seemed to grow louder each second. "Please don't tell me, that's who I think it is…"

"Oh come on Knuckles…" The voice began, as a spiky haired form began to materialize in front of him, taking on the shape of a familiar black hedgehog. "Aren't you glad to see an old friend?"

"Since when did you consider ME, a friend, Shadow?" Knuckles spat at him, never releasing Rouge.

"Such harsh words my dear Knucklehead." Shadow sneered. "I see your bat girl seems to have had a fainting spell. How princess-like."

"Wrong dipshit! Your giant goons just smacked her around!" Knuckles growled, pointing a finger at Shadow, trembling with rage.

"My giants?" Shadow pretended to be surprised. "You're so quick to judge. Is it because they're black like me, or have red markings like me? OR the fact that they can chaos control like me? Or maybe it's because they're as evil and sadistic as me!" He smiled evilly.

"What the hell's wrong with you Shadow? You never used to be like this! Have you forgotten Maria? The promise you made to her?" Knuckles shot question after question at Shadow.

Shadow just shrugged. "I just woke up and smelled the black mist, that's all. I'm casting away that worthless memory of that human girl and accepting my TRUE nature, as my destiny to be leader of the Black Arms! With Black Doom gone I can take hold of the Chaos Emeralds and Black Arms, and RULE this planet with an iron hand!" He thrust a fist up to the sky, his eyes glowing evilly as a cruel smile graced his lips.

Knuckles could hardly believe his ears. Shadow was neglecting Maria's memory? Looks like the Black Arms had seriously messed up both his mind and his heart. The black hedgehog searching for his past no longer stood before Knuckles. All that stood there was the new leader of an Alien Race and a new threat to humanity. "Shadow…you may have the chaos emeralds and you might even take the Master Emerald…but let me tell you something. I won't let you take it without a fight!" He stood up and banged his fists together. "I'll protect this island and the emerald, even if it means taking you down!"

Shadow stared at Knuckles for a moment, before snickering. The snickering soon turned into giggling, and then finally a full blown laugh. "HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That's SO funny! You think some backwoods bumpkin like you, could defeat me? The Ultimate Life Form?"

"Bumpkin? Bumpkin am I?" Knuckles challenged. "You wanna see what this "Bumpkin" can do?"

"Right, this ought to be good for a laugh." Shadow retorted.

"After this, I'LL be the one laughing!" Knuckles lunged at Shadow and threw a fist right into the hedgehog's face, or would have if Shadow had not Chaos Controlled to the side.

"Too slow, Knucklehead." Shadow jeered.

Howling in anger, Knuckles ran at Shadow, launching a flurry of punches at him.

Shadow merely dodged quicker than Knuckles could punch, all with an eternally bored look on his face. Yawning, he swiftly tripped up Knuckles and watched him fall to the ground. "How pathetic." He lifted one hand and began to charge up a "chaos spear."

Before Shadow could fire, Knuckles dug his fists into the ground and rolled onto his back, ripped up a large chunk of earth and threw it in Shadow's face causing him to lose his focus and stumble backwards. Knuckles got back to his feet immediately and fire out, punching Shadow right across the jaw.

Shadow felt Knuckles' fist connect with his face and a large splotch of blood stained the green grass near him. He reached a hand up to where Knuckles had hit him. Not only was it bruised, but it was bloody too, as Knuckles 'claws' had cut right to the bone, almost scaring Shadow's face. His eyes narrowed in hatred. "Giants…" He said dangerously. "Go off to the side please… I'd like to speak to the guardian alone…" The giants lumbered off, heeding their master's request. Shadow fixated his gaze at Knuckles. "You just made a BIG mistake echidna… No one scars my face like that… NO ONE!" Shadow's eyes shone an angry red, as his fists charged with chaos energy. "You'll pay! CHAOS SPEAR!"

Knuckles quickly flipped to the side, to avoid an incoming chaos spear coming at him. "Yeow! Can the fireworks! This ain't the fourth of July!" He threw another chunk of earth at Shadow.

Shadow fired another chaos spear, blasting the chunk to bits, only to reveal Knuckles gliding right at him with both fists forward, and receive both fists right into his face. He felt himself cough up more blood as he stumbled backwards, and felt a few teeth pop out from his jaw, due to the impact. Roaring at Knuckles, he fired a Chaos Spear without warning, blasting Knuckles in the torso and knocking him down into the grass. "Stupid Echidna!" Shadow stalked over to Knuckles' fallen body. "So stupid… One Chaos Spear easily toppled you…" He kicked Knuckles in the ribs, causing the echidna to yelp. "You're as pathetic as Rouge…" Shadow then hoisted Knuckles up by the neck and brought him up to his face. "Now I'm just going to be taking your Master Emerald here…" He said to him dangerously. "And then you and the bat girl are going to watch as my troops and I burn this island down to ash!" He said with a demented smile on his face. "It was a pleasure knowing you, Knucklehead…"

"SONIC WIND!"

A small white tornado suddenly blew up from nowhere and knocked shadow off his feet, and away from Knuckles.

"HOMING ATTACK!"

The ambush was followed up by another direct hit as what felt like a spinning body slam hit Shadow right in the back. As he hit the ground, he chuckled slightly. "That attack… I know that attack AND voice…" He picked himself off the ground and turned to the direction of the attack. "So nice to see you, Faker... I could recognize your Sonic Wind and Homing Attack, anywhere."

Sonic stood protectively over Knuckles, his arms crossed, with a sour look on his face. "Can it with the "Faker" business. It wasn't amusing or witty the first 44 times!" He spat.

"Oh what's this? You seem upset?" Shadow said with mock surprise.

"You're damn right I'm upset!" Sonic bellowed, pointing a finger at Shadow. "It was bad enough you killed off GUN's commander. But now you're trying to not only destroy the Floating Island and take the Master Emerald, but also smacking around my friends? Just how low can you go?" Sonic was shaking with rage as he glanced over at Knuckles and Rouge, seeing how badly hurt they were.

"Oh, I can much lower, Sonic. Much lower than you can imagine…" Shadow sneered at Sonic. "You want to stop me? Feh, go ahead and try!"

"GLADLY!" Sonic curled into a ball and started revving up like a turbo engine, before blasting off at Shadow.

Shadow merely jumped over the spin dash and hovered in mid air for a while, before curling up and countering with his own homing attack, knocking Sonic off of his feet.

Sonic went tumbling for a mile, before jumping back to his feet. Shaking off the dizziness, he ran at Shadow with super speed, while at the same time, getting out a ring. He jumped into the air, throwing the ring right at Shadow, who ducked the ring at once. At the same time Sonic launched himself into ball form once more, performing his "Sonic Dash," charging towards the direction of the ring, in which Shadow was in the pathway of, and knocking Shadow out of the air, before shooting himself down like a meteor and smacking Shadow right into the ground.

Shadow only lay there for a moment, before jumping out of the newly formed crater and spitting out the dirt in his mouth. He gave a cocky grin as he stared at his rival. "Hmf… You've gotten a little stronger…but it still won't be enough to beat me!" Shadow curled up into a ball and started revving up for his own spin dash. He rocketed towards Sonic like a turbo engine.

Sonic quickly dash leapt over the incoming Shadow, and avoided being knocked over. He quickly turned around and gave chase to Shadow's retreating form. When Shadow halted his attack, Sonic leapt at Shadow and slammed him with a flying dash kick that sent both of them barreling into one of the marble pillars of the Emerald Altar, smashing it into pebbles. Sonic jumped away from the wreckage and surveyed aftermath of his deed, only to have Shadow fly out of the smoke and dust and crunch into Sonic's chest with his own kick. Sonic went flying across the grassy plain before dragging into the earth, ripping up grass and dirt.

Meanwhile, Tails and Amy were busy carrying Knuckles and Rouge off to safety, away from the battlefield over to the Blue Tornado. "Man…" Tails breathed as he looked over Knuckles. "Shadow did quite a number on Knuckles. Look at all those cuts and bruises…"

"I know… Rouge isn't looking too well either." Amy noted. "And to think Shadow's the cause of these injuries…and that he did them of his own caliber… How could he?"

"I don't know Amy…" Tails sighed. "All I know is that Shadow's gone off the deep end this time…" He propped Knuckles up into the back seat of the Blue Tornado, and Amy did the same with Rouge.

After Amy set Rouge down into the plane, she glanced nervously at the battlefield behind them. "I just hope Sonic has a better chance against him…" She sighed, wringing her hands.

Sonic and Shadow meanwhile, were bombarding each other with their homing attacks, crashing into each other repeatedly in their ball forms, neither one giving up, until the other went down from impact. After one final slam, they broke away from one another letting loose one last aerial strike.

"SONIC WIND!"

"CHAOS SPEAR!"

Both wind blast and chaos shot blew up on contact, as both hedgehogs touched the ground.

Shadow shook his head chuckling. "Yet again it seems we're equally matched, Sonic. You seem to be the only one of your little group who's truly a match for me."

"Geez, I'm honored." Sonic rolled his eyes at Shadow, not liking the fact that Shadow was calling his friends weak. "Shadow, just what is that you-WOOOOOOOAAAAAAAH!" Sonic felt the entire Island shake violently.

Shadow broke into a smile. "Looks like my giants did their job. The Black Arms now have the Master Emerald!" He pointed over to the Emerald Altar, which was now missing the Master Emerald. A few yards away, were the 4 giant soldiers, carrying the Master Emerald. They were standing there for 4 seconds before vanishing in a flash of yellow light. Shadow felt triumph flowing through his brain as he saw Sonic's astonished and horrified look, as well as the terrified looks of Amy and Tails, as the Floating Island continued to quake. "CHAOS SPEAR!" Shadow fired one last Chaos Spear directly at the Emerald Altar, blasting it to rubble and pebbles. He turned back to Sonic and his friends, continuing to smile cruelly. "Happy landings everyone… CHAOS CONTROL!"

The moment that Shadow, Angel Island stopped quaking, and immediately plummeted to the sea below, carrying the screams of its helpless inhabitants upon it as it started to break way into chunks. Among everyone's screams, Shadow's laughter could be heard, echoing through the air.

TO BE CONTINUED


	5. Chapter 5

(Well now… It's time to check in with the Sonic Team, to see how they fare against Shadow's onslaught. I don't own the Sonic Team, or the Black Arms. SEGA owns them all.)

CHAPTER 5

Deep within the centre of the Black Comet, Shadow stood before the giant chaos emerald, known as the Master Emerald. The very jewel that powered the Floating Island, keeping it afloat for many centuries, now stood before the ultimate life form and lay deep within the rocky confines of the Black Comet right next to the 7 chaos emeralds. Shadow was smiling away with greed and power hunger. "They're mine… The 7 chaos emeralds AND the almighty Master Emerald are ALL mine!" He stroked a gloved hand against the crystal green surface of the Master Emerald. "Something so beautiful...containing SO much power…and now I have it all in the palm of my hand…" His eyes seemed to get lost in the eternal green of the giant emerald. Closing his eyes and turning away, he began to think. "Such a pity that my rival and his friends didn't last long enough for entertainment… No matter. Now, I just have to annihilate GUN and Eggman. GUN doesn't stand a chance against our might, and that fool Eggman doesn't have a hope in hell. Perhaps I'll pay the Doctor a visit first."

Meanwhile…

Out in the vast open blue of the ocean, all seemed calm and tranquil, showing no signs of any disturbance. However…floating out on the ocean where a small group of islands. Only thing was, until now, those islands hadn't been there before and it was almost like they had just cropped up overnight, or out of thin air. Plus, the formation of these islands made it look like they were all part of a giant jigsaw puzzle. The way they were scattered across, no one would have guessed that these islands were once parts of the great land known as Angel Island. But with the Master Emerald gone, Angel Island had fallen from a great height, into the ocean below and the impact had caused it to break apart. Chunks of the once mighty island floated adrift in the sea. Who knows what became of its inhabitants…

Sonic slowly opened his eyes, his vision blurry. When he found the strength to pull himself up in a sitting position and his head started to clear, he opened his eyes once more and his vision started to clear up. His body ached all over as he was sitting up in the tall green grass. Aside from the small patch of land, all he could see was endless blue, with a few islands littering the ocean. His heart dropped as he remembered what had happened. He knew what these islands were. They were all that remained of Angel Island. But where were the others? Where was Tails? Amy? Knuckles? Rouge? Sonic was beginning to panic. What if they hadn't survived? He couldn't bear to think of the consequences. And not only that, but he was trapped; trapped on a small prison of land. He cursed his inability to swim…he cursed his inability to save his friends…he cursed Shadow for his ruthless act…if by some small miracle he got out of this mess alive…he would make Shadow pay… A tear trickled down his cheek, as he tried to imagine what happened to his friends…if only-

"SONIC!"

Sonic was snapped out his thoughts as a familiar voice called to him from the sky. He looked up, to see none other than his little buddy Tails, descending towards him. Immediately he felt relief wash over him as he saw his two tailed side kick come in for a landing. "Tails! You ok buddy?"

Tails landed right next to Sonic. "I'm a little bruised from the fall, but I managed to come out in one piece." He cricked his neck a bit, trying to stretch his muscles.

"And the others?" Sonic asked hopefully. "Are they ok?"

Tails looked down. "I'm not sure… Like you, I woke up alone." But then he looked directly at Sonic. "But if we survived the fall, I'm sure they did too."

Sonic stood up. "You're right Tails. I be they're stranded on the other islands." He allowed himself a small smile. "Let's go look for them." His smile quickly faded as he turned back to Tails. "Knuckles is probably in a distraught state right now." He sighed solemnly. "Not only did the Master Emerald get taken away…but his entire home." Sonic's fists began to shake, as he remembered WHO exactly caused this travesty, and HOW that someone was going to regret it. Fighting his anger back down, he turned back to Tails and motioned towards his two tails. "Hey Tails? Think you're well enough to carry me across the islands? Or maybe you should rest up a bit."

"Don't worry about me Sonic." Tails told his mentor as he took to the air. "Thanks for your concern, but I can manage." He took Sonic's hands and lifted him up into the air. "Where should we look first?"

Sonic looked out all around, as if her was searching for an island with "LOOK HERE YOU FOOL!" on it. His eyes settled on a set of tiny islands to their left a few miles away. What made these islands stand out was the fact that on the far leftmost island there seemed to be a long trail of puffy black smoke billowing up to the sky. "Hey Tails… Why don't we check over by that smoky island first? There's bound to be someone there!" He pointed out to the island.

"Ok, hold on tight." Tails flew towards the direction of the island, carrying Sonic by the hands.

While the pair flew across the ocean, over to the smoky island, they looked at their surroundings, finding bits of land scattered across the ocean, that only moments before was Angel Island.

"Man…this is REALLY bad." Sonic grimaced. "Not only was the Master Emerald taken…but Knuckles…he's lost his home."

"Poor guy…I'd HATE to be in his shoes right now." Tails sadly agreed, fearing how Knuckles would be taking this if he were here right now.

Meanwhile…on the smoky island…

Amy Rose sighed to herself as she surveyed the wreckage pile of metal, leaves and wood, that only moments before was the Tornado. However, after the fall, the Tornado had a not so pleasant landing and even had a tree or two fall on top of it, badly damaging it. The smoke puffing out of its damaged engine was a dead giveaway to the damage it had received. "Great… Tails isn't going to like this…" She groaned, before looking out on the ocean. "I just hope they all made it out safely." She sat down on the ground sadly, bringing her knees up and hugging them. "What am I going to do now? I've got no way to reach those other islands, unless I swim…but it's way too far. I can't escape off this island, or go look for my friends… What…what am I supposed to do?" She was beginning to worry, about her own survival, her friends' survival. She just felt so helpless, out in the middle of nowhere, on a chunk of land nobody thought existed yet. When Angel Island fell, and broke apart, Amy was scared beyond belief. She was reaching out as everyone drifted apart. She cried out, praying that she could reach someone, but no one could hear her. Now she just sat there alone. She didn't know if she'd eve play or shop with Cream again, or chase after her beloved Sonic, whom she wanted so badly to love her. Now it seemed that would never happen… "Sonic…" Amy choked out softly, a tear trickling down her cheek. "Where are you…? Why'd you have to leave me alone…? Why couldn't you love me for who I was? Was I really that unpleasant to be around?" She sniffled sadly, as more tears started to fall.

Sonic and Tails, meanwhile, found themselves getting closer to the smoky island ahead, and were just starting to make out the shapes in the distance.

Sonic squinted as he tried to get a better look. "Tails… There's someone on that Island. Can't exactly make them out though…" He pulled out a mini-telescope and pointed it towards the island. He scanned the cost of the island slowly until he came across the figure, and zoomed in on the image. Once he had a good view, his heart skipped a beat as soon as he saw who it was. "Oh my god! Tails! It's Amy! She's on that island!"

"What? She is?" Tails grew equally excited.

Sonic nodded vigorously, putting the mini scope away. "Faster Tails!"

Tails spun his tails faster, and carried himself and Sonic to the island, determined to get to Amy Rose.

Amy Rose meanwhile was still crying softly, unsure of what to do with her situation. Suddenly her ears were filled with the faint calling of two males.

"AMY!"

"AMY ARE YOU THERE?"

She picked her head up to see something coming her way. She sprang to her feet and walked closer to the water's edge, shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked out. As she watched, the form grew closer, until she could make out the image of a familiar blue hedgehog and his two-tailed kitsune partner. Immediately she felt her heart pound with excitement, happiness and relief. "Sonic… Tails… They're ok!" She started to jump up and down. "Sonic! Tails! I'm over here!"

As Sonic and Tails grew closer, Sonic could see Amy jumping up and down near the water's edge, waving her arms frantically. 'Yes! She survived! Thank God!' "Tails, I'm gonna meet her over on the island!" Sonic suddenly let go of Tails' hands and began a mid-air spin dash, blasting forward like a rocket so fast, he skipped across the water's edge without sinking. In what seemed like seconds, he landed on the sandy coast of the island and skidded right to a stop. "Made it…" He told himself. He turned around, coming face to face with a tearful, yet relieved Amy, looking at him. He barely said a word, where with one sob, Amy ran towards Sonic and tackle hugged him, knocking him into the sand, and burying her face in his chest.

"Sonic! sob I was so worried I wouldn't see you again! sniffle" Amy choked out as she hugged Sonic tightly, showing no signs of letting go.

"I know Amy… I know…" Sonic said soothingly, as he returned the hug, and stroked Amy's hair. "I was worried too… I was worried that I failed you guys…when I should've been there…" He tightened his embrace. "I won't let anything happen to you or the others ever again, Amy. I promise I'll protect you guys."

Sonic and Amy just sat there, hugging each other, basking in relief and hope, never letting go of one another, until Tails finally arrived landing right next to them.

"Amy! Thank goodness we found you! Where was all that smoke coming from?" His eyes traveled towards the source of the smoke. "OH SHIT! THE TORNADO!" He ran over to his bi-plane. He surveyed as much as he could, until he gave a dejected sigh. "Damn it…the thing's beyond repair… Now how are we gonna get off the island?"

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, the Egg Carrier was rocketing through the sky, coming towards the former site of Angel Island. Inside, Eggman was at the control deck working feverishly to try and find Sonic and the others. "Egads… Angel Island just disappeared… I never thought I'd see the day when it would actually be destroyed like that! Shadow's really taking drastic measures here." He kept scanning the ocean for any land and life forms. "Come on Sonic… If you could survive outer space and battles against bio-mechanical weapons and evil gods, SURELY you could survive this…" Suddenly, his radar monitor began to pick up reading of islands. What puzzled Eggman was that these islands looked fairly knew, and had outlines as though they fit together in a giant jigsaw puzzle. But what concerned Eggman was how familiar these islands looked. "My god… Is this, what's left of Angel Island…? Amazing what taking the Master Emerald so forcefully could do…I never thought-" Suddenly his radar began to pick up the heat signatures of life. "These signatures… Can they be?" He started zooming in on the images down below, particularly zooming in on the island that had smoke billowing from it. When his cameras got in close enough to see who the figures were, he breathed a sigh of relief and triumph as he saw two hedgehogs and a kitsune. "I knew it! They survived!" He stood up with a smile on his face. "I think it's time for a little rescue mission."

Elsewhere, on a small island that only seconds before was Holy Summit, Knuckles the Echidna stood staring at the damaged and emerald-less Emerald Altar, and what remained of his island; the place he lived and swore to protect. Now it was gone… He had failed to protect it, and the Master Emerald was now in the hands of evil. The guilt of failure burned in his heart and soul, festering inside like a plague, and tears were streaming from his eyes like raindrops as he struggled, trying not cry, while chocking sobs racked his frame. "The Emerald… My home… They're both gone… I tried to protect them…I swore I would, but I failed miserably…" Knuckles dropped to his knees. "Not only did I fail to protect the Emerald, but I've lost the very grounds to the echidna tribe…my own home." He buried his face in his hands and wept. "I'm a failure!" All the former guardian could do at this point was to cry his eyes out.

From afar, all Rouge could do was watch Knuckles wallow in his own grief, berating himself for the catastrophe at hand. It tore her up inside, watching him suffer so, bringing tears to her own eyes. 'Oh Knuckles…' Standing up weakly, still feeling the pain from the previous battle she half walked, half ran to Knuckles. When she reached him, she dropped to her knees and threw her arms around him, cuddling him as snuggly as she could. She felt him turn around in her embrace, and return the embrace, crying on her shoulder. 'Just let it all out Knuxie…' Rouge thought. 'No one should've gone what you just went through…' Her thoughts turned to Shadow. 'Boy Shadow… You've really done it this time… Did you have to go and destroy another person's home in the process? And what really pisses me off is, you had to destroy the home of my favorite echidna! When I get my hands on you, you're gonna wish Gerald never gave life to you…'

Elsewhere…on the Smokey Island…

Sonic and Amy broke form their comforting embrace, while Tails pulled away from his futile attempts at salvaging the Tornado, as they heard the sounds of a great airship passing overhead, as well as giant shadow suddenly passing over them. They looked up into the sky, or would have if not for what was in the sky at that very moment, which for once was actually a pleasant sight. Eggman's Egg Carrier was now floating right above them. No sooner did the great ship stop than the bottom hatch opened up wide, revealing Eggman floating down in his Eggpod. "AHOY DOWN THERE!" They heard him call as he descended.

"Eggman…" Sonic began. "Thank you for introducing us to a new experience."

"Er…What would that be?" Eggman looked puzzled.

"Being pleased to see you." He said, giving a mischievous smile, however his voice carried a tone of relief.

Eggman just snorted, shrugging it off. 'Even when faced with in a dire situation, he's got a witty remark waiting.' He thought. "My…my…my…" Eggman said in disbelief as he looked around. "Is this really all that's left of Angel Island?"

The smile left Sonic's face instantly, replaced by a somber look. "Afraid so… After Shadow and his goons took the Master Emerald, the whole Island fell into the sea, and just collapsed under the pressure of the fall and impact."

"We all got separated on different pieces of land." Tails explained. "The Tornado took some damage and it's completely useless now." He pointed to what remained of the bi-plane.

Eggman looked at Sonic, then Tails, then Amy, then all around the island. "Wait a second… Aren't Rouge and Knuckles with you?"

Amy shook her head. "We haven't been able to find them. We only just managed to find each other, and we don't even know if Knuckles or Rouge survived."

"Well, might I suggest we get to the Egg Carrier and find them quickly?" Eggman suggested, looking apprehensive. "Now that Shadow's got the Master Emerald, I have great fear that he may attack GUN HQ next…"

Sonic sighed angrily in his head. 'Damn it, Shadow… You are REALLY beginning to piss me off.'

TO BE CONTINUED


	6. Chapter 6

(How much farther will Shadow go with his heinous acts? How long before Sonic's anger peaks? Time will tell… I don't own Sonic, or Shadow, or any of SEGA's love children. And I'm sorry in advance fore yet ANOTHER long wait.)

CHAPTER 6

Onboard the Egg Carrier, Sonic, Tails and Amy stood by Eggman as he fiddled with his computer, trying to get a lock on Knuckles and Rouge's signatures. The large viewing screen was scanning an overhead view over the ocean, over the new cluster of islands, which used to be Angel Island. Pieces of the island big and small lay scattered across the ocean, and there appeared to be no signs of life upon the ravaged, razed landscapes.

As Sonic gazed at the remnants of the once magnificent Angel Island, his mind kept turning to Shadow, and all that had happened after the incident at GUN HQ. Shadow had done this. And it wasn't under Black Doom's influence either. The more Sonic thought about it the angrier he became. Not only had the home of one of his best friends, he also had tried to kill off his friends, the very people he held near and dear. Where were Knuckles and Rouge now? That's what Sonic wanted to know. He wanted them so badly to have survived, and at the same time, he wanted to hurt Shadow, badly. He seemed to be concentrating, at that point, on how much he hated Shadow. The more he thought about what he did and could do, the angrier he became. 'Shadow… How many more lives will you take away and ruin? This is low…even for you…for your sake, Rouge and Knuckles better be alive… If they're not, I won't be responsible for my actions…" His clenched fists shook slightly with rage and his eyes narrowed as he looked at what was left of Angel Island.

Amy looked out of the corner of her eye and noticed Sonic's current state. She could see how much pain and anger were in his emerald green eyes as he looked at Angel Island's remains. He looked as though he would fire out and smash the screen with his fist, given the chance. Before this whole incident with Shadow, she had never seen her spiny blue crush so angry before…not even with Eggman. This time, his eyes carried hints of sorrow, betrayal, disbelief, and murderous rage; all of which were COMPLETELY un-Sonic like. It worried Amy terribly to think what would happen in the future, if any more tragic acts like this followed. How many more would suffer, and how long before Sonic's temper boiled over?

Tails, meanwhile, was busy with Eggman scanning the waters for Rouge and Knuckles, but so far having no luck whatsoever. However, that would soon change in a moment, when two blips appeared on one small island. "Eggman, look!" Tails tapped the screen.

Eggman examined the energy signature, and zoomed in on the island it appeared on. "What a coincidence…" He mused. "Rouge and Knuckles happen to be on an island which used to be the former center of the island, where the Emerald Altar lay. I'm not sure if the Altar itself is still intact, but hopefully our two friends should be alive and well…" He started to punch in the coordinates to the Emerald Altar Island. "We'll be there in no time."

Meanwhile, near the Emerald Altar on Holy Summit… Rouge continued to hold Knuckles, whose sobs had long since subsided. Rouge couldn't help but wonder, what now? What was Knuckles going to do? His home was gone, and so was his duty. He had lost everything and now had nothing….no. That wasn't true… He DID still have something. He had love, her love. She'd be there for him, and would help him though this crisis.

Knuckles just lay there in Rouge's embrace. His cries had subsided, but his sorrow had not. Not only had he failed to protect the Master Emerald and the island, but he also had lost his home…his reason for living. He didn't have a life now…he didn't have a home…he had nothing. What in the world was he going to do with himself now?

While the two were lost in their own little words, neither of them seemed to notice the huge shadow of the Egg Carrier floating above them, or the forms of their three friends coming down to greet them.

When the Egg Carrier began to approach and descend to the former site of Holy Summit, Sonic, Tails, and Amy waited as the bottom doors began to open up.

Tails looked down with his binocucom and began to scout the island for any sign of Knuckles and/or Rouge. "C'mon…they have to be here…" He muttered to himself as he surveyed the landscape. When he began searching close to, or what was left of, the Emerald Altar, he noticed two small, familiar figures nearby. "Wait a minute… Can it be?" His heart racing, and hoping for the best, he zoomed in on the image, and sure enough, there was Knuckles and Rouge, in each others arms, alive and well. Perhaps they were bruised and shaken, but they WERE alive. Tails let out a sigh of relief. "They're ok guys… They made it."

Sonic dropped to his knees in relief. "Thank god… They survived…they actually survived…" He allowed himself a few tears of happiness to shine through, knowing his friends were safe for now. "C'mon guys… Let's go pay them a visit."

The three of them borrowed spare flight pods of Eggman's and made a descent down to the island, ready to collect the echidna and bat.

Rouge was still holding Knuckles, when she was snapped out her thoughts by a loud shout.

"ROUGE! KNUCKLES! UP HERE!"

Rouge and Knuckles both looked up suddenly to see Sonic, Tails and Amy coming in, all three of them waving frantically with smiling, relieved faces. The both of them managed to smile, despite all that had transpired, knowing that their friends survived, and had been searching for them.

When his pod had landed, Sonic made a beeline for his dreadlocked friend. "Knuckles! Knuckles, you're alive!" He yelled, pulling his friend into a hug. When he pulled away, his face showed concern and sympathy. "Knux, I don't know why this had to happen…but I'm gonna make sure the Black Arms pay for trashing your home like this."

Knuckles' expression grew dark at that mention of the Black Arms. "Just make sure you take me along when you fight them…" His eyes narrowed in anger as he raised a shaking fist. "Because I want to not only kick some Black Arms butt…BUT I ALSO WANNA BUST SHADOW'S FUCKING FACE IN!"

Sonic's eyes were also narrowed as he remembered Shadow's crimes. "Don't worry…" He cracked his knuckles. "You'll get your chance. We all will…"

Tails and the girls couldn't help but exchange worried glances at how Sonic and Knuckles were acting, although they couldn't blame them for pissed off with what a monster Shadow was becoming. They just hoped they didn't do anything drastic before they fought the Black Arms directly.

Meanwhile, up in space, Shadow observed the reunion through the Master Emerald. He snorted. "How touching…" He said sarcastically. "So they all survived… This proves nothing. I guess they'll need another example of my power…and I know just how to do so." He snapped his fingers, and in sparking rings of light, a whole platoon of Black Arms Elite appeared, clothed in their yellow chest plates, brandishing their usual armament of hyper guns. "Now listen up my soldiers…" Shadow began. "We are going forth with our next stage of attack. We will return to GUN HQ…AND DESTROY IT! I want you to kill anyone inside of the base, human or otherwise. Leave no survivors, and then destroy the entire base. We need to show the humans that they have no protection against us, and should accept their fate to be crushed by our immense power. If Sonic and his friends, or Eggman and his robots show up at the scene, you have permission to exterminate them… I'll be joining this raid personally just in case any unexpected visitors may show up." Shadow continued to observe the projection image of his rival. "Come and follow me if you dare faker…" He smiled evilly. "You'll soon witness my ultimate power at hand…" Shadow's hands glowed with chaos energy as he spoke.

Back on the Egg Carrier, Sonic and the group were discussing their next stage of plans were and trying to predict what Shadow was about to do next.

"He's already Taken out GUN's commander, destroyed Angel Island, and now possesses the Master Emerald along with all 7 Chaos Emeralds…" Tails summarized. "Where would he be striking next?"

"Well, even though he killed GUN's commander…" Amy suggested. "He hasn't annihilated GUN itself. What if he's planning to return there, only this time, to wipe out the whole base itself? It wouldn't be just to give the Black Arms an advantage…but also revenge… Remember what GUN did to him in the past."

"Only this time… It's not about avenging Maria…" Sonic reminded. "This time, it's revenge for himself, and for his own bloodlust." He punched one fist into his palm. "We can't let these tragedies occurring. First GUN's commander fell, and now Angel Island went down too. I'll be damned if I'm gonna let him ruin any more lives!" His eye showed pure hatred when he talked about Shadow.

"If you're going to stop Shadow…" Eggman suddenly butted in. "I believe now seems like a good time. I'm picking up Black Arms energy readings coming of us." His eyes widened. "And it looks as though the exact location is that of GUN HQ…"

"DAMNIT!" Sonic cursed. He ran over to the nearest window and looked down from where the Egg Carrier was flying. To his partial relief, they were flying just above dry land. "I can't wait any longer guys, I'm sorry. But I'm going over there to kick some Black Arms ass!" Sonic grabbed the window latch and forced the window open. He jumped straight out the window and immediately started running as soon as he hit the ground, zooming off to GUN HQ.

"HEY!" Knuckles yelled after Sonic's rapidly disappearing form. "Don't go after those black bastards without me!" Knuckles leapt out of the Egg Carrier and started to glide after Sonic.

Amy and Rouge both darted out of the window next; Amy running on the ground after Sonic, and Rouge flying in the air after Knuckles...

"Sonic! Wait for me!"

"Knuckles! Wait up Sugar!"

Tails watched his four friends dart off with worry. He turned back to Eggman. "I'd better follow them. I don't want Sonic and Knuckles to do anything drastic." He flew out of the window and pursued his four friends.

Eggman watched the 5 furries on his monitor as they raced for GUN HQ. He sighed and shook his head as he pursued them. "Something drastic will eventually happen." He told himself. "The only question is… Who will do the deed? And which side will they be on?" He looked up at a portrait of his Grandfather, Gerald. "I wonder if my grandfather had predicted any of these events occurring when he created Shadow…"

Sonic and the gang jetted across the city streets, the image of GUN HQ rising on the horizon in front of them.

"We're here." Sonic stopped halfway on the very route to GUN HQ's entrance. He looked around cautiously. "There doesn't seem to be any sign of Black Arms soldiers… yet."

"Keep your eyes peeled." Knuckles added. "They could be hiding anywhere for all we know…"

"Who could be hiding anywhere?"

Tails turned around to see Cream coming towards them, obviously curious as to why they were hanging around the outskirts of GUN HQ. 'Why's Cream here? She doesn't know the danger she's in?' He thought with worry. "Cream… Now's really not the best time to talk to us…" He wanted to get her away to a safe distance as soon as possible.

"Why-" Before Cream could finish her question, rings of sparkling light suddenly glittered all around them.

Amy griped her hammer tightly. "Oh no… Please don't let it be what I think it is…"

"Wanna bet?" Rouge said as she eyed the grounds warily.

Suddenly in bright flashes, the rings disappeared, to reveal the tall, back and red, yellow chest plated, slender forms of Black Arms Elite Soldiers, each brandishing a hyper energy gun in hand, and pointing it at Sonic and the gang.

In a flash of pink light in front of the Black Arms, Shadow appeared smiling evilly at them as the 7 Chaos Emerald circled around him.

"A trap…" Sonic growled as he focused his vision at his black furred doppelganger.

"Hello there Faker…" Shadow said calmly with a cruel smile.

TO BE CONTINUED


	7. Chapter 7

(Well once again, I've been dead for far too long. Well, I've been busy with a few things. I've been on a week holiday, worked on some fics that I don't know if I should post on But also, I've been getting into Sonic Rush, and got some motivation back for this fic. I don't own Sonic, Shadow or any of SEGA's children, but you know that already.)

CHAPTER 7

In a flash of pink light in front of the Black Arms, Shadow appeared smiling evilly at them as the 7 Chaos Emerald circled around him.

"A trap…" Sonic growled as he focused his vision at his black furred doppelganger.

"Hello there Faker…" Shadow said calmly with a cruel smile.

Sonic merely replied with an angry scowl. "I thought smelled raw garbage coming…"

"Heh… Witty as always aren't you?" Shadow replied sarcastically. "Your retorts never seem to get old, Faker."

"And even now, you still have the nerve to call me faker…" Sonic retorted with a sour smile. "You really have a lot of balls, don't you?"

Shadow chuckled. "Flattery will get you nowhere, Sonic." He looked around at Sonic's teammates, and noticed Cream, and Amy. "Sonic… I'm surprised at you." He said with mock disappointment. "Fancy bringing young children to this fight... Tsk, tsk, tsk." He waggled his finger at Sonic. "You should be ashamed of yourself."

Amy overheard Shadow's insult and fumed angrily, clutching the handle of her hammer. "Who are you calling a child, you monster?"

Sonic held out his hand. "Calm down, Amy… You'll get your chance. But right now, I'll handle this."

Amy looked at Sonic worriedly. 'That's what I'm afraid of, Sonic…' She thought with worry. 'Please… Don't do anything to drastic…'

Sonic fixed an angry gaze at Shadow. "Why Shadow? Why'd you have to destroy Knuckles' home, his life, his purpose in life? Why'd you kill GUN's commander in cold blood?" Sonic was trying in vain to fight down his fury. "Why did you commit such despicable acts?" Sonic was now beginning to yell.

"Don't you get it?" Shadow asked rhetorically. "It's my true destiny, to purify this Earth. I only exist to make humans and their allies suffer. The Black Arms opened my eyes, and have made me realize the truth. Of course, I was never content to be just a pawn. That's why I killed Black Doom, and took over as leader of the Black Arms!" Shadow grew an insane smile on his face. "Now that I have all 7 Chaos Emeralds…AND the Master Emerald… No one in this world can stop me! Not even you, Sonic! I am the TRUE personification of power now…" He then turned his eyes to GUN HQ which stood a few yards behind them. The look in his eyes displayed a look that a tiger has when stalking its prey. "Anyway… I have some important business to attend to…so if you'll excuse me…" He began to walk away, with the Black Elites following him close behind.

Sonic grabbed Shadow by the shoulders and forced him to turn around, looking at him with pure fury. "Don't give me that crap!" He shouted. "We're settling things here with you, right here and now!"

Shadow suddenly scowled, grabbed Sonic by the wrist and threw him away, causing him to land right at Amy's feet. "Don't touch me, you goody-goody filth!" Shadow dusted himself off. "Now I'll have to shower, to get the smell of faker off of me." He growled as the Black Elites pointed their guns at Sonic. But when he turned to face the Sonic crew, his scowl was once again replaced by a cruel smile. "Alright then… If you're so eager to fight me…then I'll be happy to oblige… But first, you'll have to defeat my children first!"

The Black Assassins held out their hands and began to produce Death Leaches from their palms. They tossed them out onto the field, and shot their refractor beams at them. But instead of the creatures being destroyed, they seemed to fast forward in evolution. The Death Leeches quickly evolved into Black Warriors, some armed with Flash Shots. They began to crowd around the group, with their refractor guns pointed directly at the furries…except, where was Knuckles?

Shadow noticed Knuckles' sudden absence. "Wait a minute… Where'd that echidna go?" Suddenly, he heard a deep rumbling under where the Black Warriors were standing. "Son of a Bitch…" He cursed.

THOOM!

The ground underneath the Black Warriors erupted in a shower of soil, gravel, and concrete, sending them flying everywhere, while a screaming mad echidna spun into the air with a spinning uppercut.

"Great thinking, Knux!" Sonic yelled to his friend. He jumped in the air and started spinning madly, revving up like a turbo engine, until he blasted off and performed his "Light Speed Attack," dodging pink energy shots from the light shot guns that fired his way, and homing attacking into every Black Warriors in his path, knocking them smack to the ground.

Amy was running through, deflecting away any laser shots with her Piko Piko Hammer, while she swung her hammer around in a spinning motion, knocking down any Black Warriors within 1 to 5 feet of her.

Tails and Cream, meanwhile, flew above in the air, trying to keep out of the line of fire as they watched their friends fight on the ground.

"Cream, we need to cut down, or at least distract the number of Black Warriors from Sonic and the others." Tails explained. "Knuckles is handling himself pretty well, since his ground attack knocked down most of his adversaries. Sonic and Amy on the other hand…they're doing fine for now, but they're gonna be swamped soon." He then reached behind and pulled out what looked like a set of rings. "Here's what we need to do. For example, I'll be helping Sonic out, by using my thunder shoot, and my fake rings will hopefully paralyze more than enough of the Warriors."

Cream nodded to Tails, understanding what he was getting at. "Then, I can help Amy out. I'll just fly around the battle field and use Cheese for some Chao attacks and ease Amy's burden."

"Right." Tails agreed. Then he looked at the edge of the field, noticing Shadow watching the entire fight. "If you can…then help me keep a close eye on Shadow. It's just in case he tries something dirty, and his actions lately haven't put him in the greatest light." Tails said the last sentence with a tone of disgust.

Cream, not knowing the full extent of what was going on, wanted to know what Tails was talking about…and why Shadow was working with the Black Arms. But she decided on asking that after the battle was over. Instead, she flapped her ears and started flying towards Amy's part of the battle field. "Alright, Cheese! Go!" Cream pointed to the desired targets, and Cheese took off like a missile, surrounded by an energy field, and started either running through every Black Warriors in sight, or shattering their light guns, leaving them weaponless and lifting off some of Amy's burden.

Tails meanwhile, was hovering above Sonic, launching his "Thunder Shot" attack and firing his fake power rings at the Black Warriors, immobilizing them in an electrical field with each hit, paralyzing them to the spot, and setting them up for an easy take down from Sonic.

With one quick spin in mid-air, Sonic unleashed his "Blue Tornado" attack, generating high winds that tossed Black Warriors into the air, where he jumped after them, knocking them out of the sky with his homing attack.

Amy followed with her own wind attack, swing her hammer around and blowing Warriors, sky high with her tornado of hearts. She then distributed her "present bombs" all across the ground and stood clear as the Warriors fell right onto them, blowing themselves up in seconds.

Knuckles raised his fists in the air and whistled to Sonic and Tails, who immediately recognized his signal, jumped towards him, went into ball form, and started spinning tightly around his hands. "Alright you black buffoons!" Knuckles yelled at the warriors. "Let's see how you like my fire dunk attack!"

The Black Warriors immediately opened fire on the red echidna, detecting hostility.

Knuckles put up his "gloves" and the tight spinning from Sonic and Tails, deflected the shots easily. Knuckles jumped in the air, facing the Black Arms and extended his arms out. "TAKE THIS!" He started making throwing motions, and fired Sonic and Tails like heated projectiles, hurling them into Black Warriors left and right, badly burning injuring them with the impacts, or sometimes even killing them with close hits.

Shadow watched the entire battle with a deep scowl on his face. "How dare they…?" He growled, his hands shaking with rage, while the chaos emerald seemed to glow ominously. His eyes suddenly shone an angry white. "How dare they treat my soldiers so shamefully?"

The Black Elites pointed their refractor guns towards the battleground ready to open fire, and they would have, except…

"NO!" Shadow held out a hand in front of the Elites, signaling not to make any movements whatsoever. "Don't shoot until I say so…no…" He kept his eyes on the battlefield. "I'll handle this myself… You need to carry out the mission and blast GUN HQ to rubble. But we can't let Sonic and his gang let on that I've sent you inside… We'll pretend that I'm seeing you off to the Black Comet to regroup and rethink. Once you teleport off, immediately change direction, for inside of GUN. Do you understand?"

The Elites nodded in understanding, saluting to Shadow in response.

"Good…" The Chaos Emeralds began to float above his head. "Now go!"

The Elites all vanished in flashes of glittering light.

"And now…" Shadow snapped his fingers, and the emeralds flashed above him.

Just as Sonic was about launch a Black Warrior into the air with another "Blue Tornado," the Black Warriors still standing suddenly stood still for a few seconds, before vanishing in a flash of purple light. "What the… Where'd they all go?"

"Back home…"

Sonic and the group turned around to see, and irritable looking Shadow, storming their way, with all 7 Chaos Emeralds floating above him. "So…you've finally decided to quite hiding behind your minions and fight us face to face, like you usually do?" Sonic challenged.

"Oh…don't push me, Sonic!" Shadow spat the other's name out like a bad piece of meat. "You harmed my children… Now you shall suffer their father's wrath…" He clenched a fist. "Now it looks like I'll have to fight you myself…which is fine by me."

"YOU!" Knuckles suddenly darted in front of Sonic. "You took away the Master Emerald, destroyed my home, and tried to hurt Rouge… You've ruined my life Shadow…AND NOW YOU'RE GOING TO PAY!"

Shadow just snorted. "Beat it Knuckle-bastard! I'm not interested in fighting you."

"We'll you're gonna HAVE to be interested!" Knuckles swung a fist in Shadow's face.

Shadow caught it in one quick swipe…

Knuckles growled and fired his second fist at Shadow's face.

Shadow caught that fist too… Shadow shook his head. "I could've thrown you away after the first failed punch, you know."

"Then… Why did you let me throw a second one?" Knuckles demanded angrily.

A cruel sneer sported Shadow's lips. "So…I…could…do…THIS!" Shadow started to grab tightly onto Knuckle's fists…VERY hard.

"AGH!" Knuckles' hands were suddenly infused with sheer pain. "Wh-What are you doing?" He groaned, as he felt Shadow's grip tighten each second. The pain was agitating at first, but slowly…it was becoming more than that. The pain started to become excruciating, as Knuckles felt like every bone in his fists was slowly starting to break.

"It's simple, echidna…" Shadow threw Knuckles a murderous glare and scowl. "I'm going to hurt you like you've NEVER been hurt before…" He tightened his grip.

Sonic's jaw dropped in horror. 'Shadow…is he doing what I think he's doing? Come on Knuckles…don't give in…please hang in…' His body began to shake.

Tails was shaking with fear. "Shadow…please, stop this…please…" He begged.

Amy just stared. Her body was numb with tension and fear. 'No…Knuckles…please…don't hurt Knuckles…'

Cream was holding onto Amy tightly, shivering with fear. "Mr. Shadow… Mr. Knuckles…"

Rouge was crying with anger, and fear as she watched her beloved being tortured. Fear for Knuckles' safety…and anger towards Shadow. 'Shadow…if you do something to Knuckles…I swear…I'm going to hurt you…'

Now the pain was becoming unbearable, and tears slowly began to trail down Knuckles face as he tried to break free. 'I…can't take it… So…painful…my hands…he's…he's crushing my hands!' Suddenly…

CRACK! CRACK! Two sickening cracks were heard; the cracks of breaking bones.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Knuckles screamed in pain. Shadow had just broken every bone in his hand…and he was still crushing what was left. Knuckles was now on his knees crying in agony, as the pain increased by the minute. "STOP! STOP!" He shouted, sobbing like a child. "PLEASE STOP! OH GOD, IT HURTS!"

"SHUT UP!" Shadow roared at him, his eyes shining an angry red, and his teeth barred like a savage beast. "YOU DON'T KNOW THE MEANING OF PAIN YET!" He eased up for a brief moment before giving one mighty squeeze.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Knuckles screamed like a banshee, as he felt his hands crushed so hard, blood splattered onto the ground from his broken hands.

Sonic turned white as a sheet as he heard the sounds of breaking bones, but when he saw blood splattering out form Knuckles' crushed hands, he felt a violently nauseous feeling in his stomach, and resisted the urge to throw up.

Tails however, did not have Sonic's will power and vomited right on the spot, not being able to stand the sight of crushed flesh and bone, or the pouring blood.

Amy let out a horrified yelp and shut her eyes, tears streaming down her face as she cried.

Cream was sobbing like a baby as she buried her face in Amy's dress, trying not to look at the horrible scene in front of her.

Rouge couldn't stand this any longer as she watched her loved one suffer so much pain. "Kn-Knuckles…sob…how could he do such a thing to you…" Her hands were shaking.

Knuckles was on the ground crying in agony, his voice racked with choking sobs. "STOP! PLEASE, IT HURTS! ENOUGH! ENOUGH!"

"NO!" Shadow yelled at him. "One more…and you'd better take it like a man…" Shadow gave one last squeeze, making Knuckles scream in almost a crescendo, before letting go. He stared at the hysterical, sobbing Knuckles with disgust. "WIMP!" He slapped Knuckles across the face fiercely, causing blood to spurt from his nose and mouth onto the ground, trickling out of his nostrils and lip, and sending the echidna right smack to the ground, where he continued to cry in unbearable physical pain. "Disgusting…" He snarled as he stared at his blood soaked gloves.

"KNUCKLES!" Rouge ran over to the fallen echidna, tears stinging in her eyes and streaming down her face. She rolled him gently onto his back and cradled him in her arms. "Knuckles…sniffle…speak to me…" She sobbed.

"M-My…hands…" Knuckles whimpered hoarsely. "Shadow…sob…crushed my hands…sniff…the pain…hurts so much…" He lifted dup what was left of his hands. They were disjointed, out of shape and bloodied, cut right through the flesh and bone, staining his gloves with blood.

Sonic had had enough of this. "Shadow…" He whispered in a low growl a she stomped towards Shadow. "You… You… You…"

"You what?" Shadow asked, uninterested, acting like nothing had happened.

Sonic was now trembling with anger. "You…FUCKING ANIMAL!" He punched Shadow so hard and fast, due to his super speed, Shadow was sent almost burrowing into the ground. "How the fucking hell could you do such a thing! You took Knuckles home away from him…and now…NOW YOU TORTURE HIM!"

Shadow picked himself up off the ground, his face covered in dirt and blood. "It was his, own fault. He never should have raised his fists to me."

"He's my friend, Goddamn it!" Sonic screamed in Shadow's face. "You mess with him, and then oh god, do you mess with me…" Sonic snarled with narrowed eyes.

Shadow narrowed his owns. "You're challenging me? Then maybe you want to share that stupid echidna's pain…" Shadow clenched his fists. But before he could strike, something flashed in his mind, like a signal. His eyes widened, and then narrowed again, his scowl replace by an evil smile. "Ok Sonic… I'm not going to hurt you, or the rest of your friends… But I'm going to leave something that will scar the rest of you…" He pointed to GUN HQ. "You tried to warn them? It was all in vain." He snapped his fingers.

KABOOM! GUN HQ suddenly blew up in large eruption of fire and smoke, rubble and metal flying everywhere as the once mighty foundation as reduced to nothing but a smoldering crater, filled with fire, smoke and brimstone.

The Sonic Team all stared at the scene with horror and disbelief. The very scen brought tears to their eyes.

Shadow turned back to them, an evil, insane look in his eyes. "Now do you see? Now do you see, what happens to those who oppose the Black Arms? THEY ALL DIE! AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!" He laughed maliciously up at the sky. "PROFESSOR! BLACK DOOM! NOW DO YOU SEE WHAT YOUR 'SON' CAN DO?"

Sonic dropped to his knees. "No…No…They're…all gone…we couldn't save them…" His voice quavered.

"You never had a hope of saving ANYBODY!" Shadow jeered at Sonic. "So don't even bother trying…" He looked at everyone. Rouge was trying to comfort a sobbing Knuckles, despite her own tears. Amy and Cream were huddle together, weeping for the lost lives. Tails was in the same position as Sonic, just staring at the horrible image and weeping silently. He turned back to Sonic, who continued to stare and cry. "Don't you see Sonic? You've lost…" Shadow cackled. "This pathetic planet never had a hope in hell… Mwahahahahahahahaha…BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Shadow laughed insanely as he chaos controlled away from the scene.

"No… No… No…" Sonic repeated over and over again. His brow furrowed against his eyes and his teeth started to clench in anger and hatred, against his tear stained face. "SHADOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!" He screamed with primal rage at the sky.

TO BE CONTINUED


	8. Chapter 8

(Man…things have really gone down the toilet, for the Sonic crew… How much longer are they gonna stand for Shadow's tyranny? And what of Shadow? What else does this monster have up his sleeve? Find out! I don't own Sonic, or Shadow, or ANY of SEGA's children.)

CHAPTER 8

Shadow stood from a distance, watching the burning wreckage that once was GUN HQ, a satisfied smile on his face as he watched cinders and smoke drift up to the black, starless, night sky. He breathed deeply, through his nose. "Ah… There's nothing like the sweet smell of death to make my night." He said with a smirk. "Foolish Sonic…He tries and he tries…but his efforts are, and will always be in vain…the Faker." He looked at his blood stained gloves. "Hm… They've been stained deeply by that echidna's blood. Oh well… It's a memento of my handiwork; just like that echidna's crushed hands are a memento of his bitter defeat." He made a crushing motion with his hands. "He wasn't such a tough nut to crack after all, and neither were his fists. I was so tempted to torture the rest of them…but I've got more important things to attend to…" He looked up at the moon, with a cold smile. "I have all the chaos emeralds…I have the Master Emerald…  
I've destroyed the Floating Island…I've annihilated GUN…I've almost annihilated every possible threat. Well…there still remains the presence of Doctor Eggman…But he'll be easy picking. Once he's out of the way, I can easily infect this planet with the evil of the Black Arms. Not even Sonic and the others can stand against me, unless they want to end up like that idiot guardian did." He smiled gleefully as he remembered Knuckles' cries of pain. "Now… I suppose it's time I paid Gerald's grandson a visit he'll never forget…" Shadow vanished with chaos control, his mind filled with murder and destruction.

Eggman, meanwhile, was getting closer to the former site of GUN HQ in the Egg Carrier. His long distance cameras were distributing him less then pleasing images. The very image of the burning crater of debris and charred corpses of soldiers filled Eggman with fear. "Egads… Shadow and the Black Arms did this? No… This is not possible… How could my Grandfather be in league with these monsters, and create a despicable killer like Shadow?" He slammed the control panel with his fist. "So this was what my Grandfather worked on for so long with Project SHADOW? A cold blooded monster bent on only bloodshed?" Eggman was trembling with rage and shame as he hung his head. "After all these years… After all the admiration and respect for my Grandfather… This can't be!"

"Such harsh words doctor… Cold blooded monster? Please… I prefer the term, 'alien revolutionary.'"

Eggman lifted his head and turned his chair around, to see Shadow standing before him. But there was something different about Shadow. He seemed to be dressed in some dark, regal looking robes…robes that were chillingly similar to the ones worn by Black Doom. Plus his eyes were not their usual red color, but the yellow cat like irises of Doom Eye's. "Sh-Shadow?"

"What do you think of my new appearance Doctor? I look just like my father, do I not?" Shadow said with fake humor.

Eggman's eyes narrowed. "So now it's all clear… You're slowly shaping into a new image… You're becoming the next Black Doom!"

"Hahaha…" Shadow started to laugh. "What gave it away? Was it my new eye job? Or was it my new style of clothing?"

Eggman shook his head angrily. "You think this is funny? Well you won't be laughing soon, once Sonic gets a hold of you… After what you've done, I can assure you that he's howling for your blood right about now!""

"Yes… I pretty much figured that on my own." Shadow said with a frivolous tone. "It was especially after I blew up GUN, and how I crushed Knuckle's bare hands with my bare hands." He showed off his bloodstained gloves.

Eggman shuddered and tried not to think of what grisly scene had occurred to make Shadow's formerly pure white gloves so blood stained. "How could you Shadow… If Maria knew about this, she'd be very upset."

"Maria?" Shadow said with an uncaring tone. "Maria, who? She was just another pathetic human holding me back." He lowered his head for a moment. "And you…" He looked up again, his eyes shining demonically. "You're just like all the other humans…"

Eggman was starting to get scared now, as he gazed into Shadow's eyes. He felt paralyzed with fear, as Shadow floated closer towards him, a hand outstretching, closer…closer…closer…until… Shadow vanished in a flash. Eggman's head darted around frantically, looking for any sign of the Ultimate Life Form.

"Right behind you, Doctor…"

Eggman turned around, only to find Shadow grinning sadistically in his face. His eyes followed Shadow's right arm, and widened with horror, as he saw the glowing purple blade of a Black Arms sword in his hand. He knew all to well what was about to happen.

Shadow purred like a lion. "Goodbye Dr. Eggman…" He swung the blade at Eggman's neck…

Meanwhile…

Sonic tapped his foot anxiously, as he sat waiting, in the lobby of Central City Hospital, staring at nothing but pale stucco walls, or the small black clock that hung over the main entrance doors. Waiting had never been his strong suit…something that was largely known about his personality. But now…his impatience was on edge, especially of what it concerned. It had been half an hour since they had rushed into the hospital, carrying a dangerously injured, and horribly bleeding Knuckles. The doctors asked NO questions when they saw the echidna's state and did not waste any time rushing him into the infirmary. Now all Sonic and the others could do was wait…and hope for the best.

Rouge was taking it harder than anyone else, as she couldn't stop crying, despite Tails' attempts to calm her down, telling her that Knuckles was going to be alright.

Sonic on the other hand was trying to suppress the indescribable rage he felt. Shadow had really done it this time… Destroying Knuckles' home and robbing him of his purpose in life was one thing, but now…almost killing Knuckles and destroying GUN HQ, along with hundreds of innocent lives inside…that was too much. Sonic wanted so badly for Shadow to be here. He wanted to wrap his hands around the black hedgehog's neck, and strangle him…strangle him and rob him of every last breath of air in his lungs. 'Shadow… You murderous son of a bitch… You better pray that I don't find your sorry ass… Because when I do…I'm going to rip your fucking head off!' Sonic grit his teeth and narrowed his eyes in fury as he thought. The more he thought…the angrier he became. His hands clenched tightly into trembling fists, and a low growling noise came from deep within his throat. Now his whole body began to tremble with rage. 'Shadow…You…You…'

Amy Rose, who was busy trying to comfort Cream, despite crying herself, picked her head up as she heard a growling sound coming from the side. Blinking back tears, she saw Sonic shaking all over, his fists and teeth clenched, and his eyes sporting a look of fury. "S-Sonic?" She asked softly.

Sonic pounded both fists into his chair as he flew up from his seat. "GODDAMN SON OF A BITCH!" He shrieked. People leapt into the air; doctor, nurses and attendants spilled food and medication all over the floor; passersby cast Sonic worried, concerned and even fearful looks. Tails and Rouge stared at Sonic with shock, while Amy and Cream cowered from him, looking ready to cry again. Sonic quietly sat back down in his chair. "S-Sorry… I was venting off some repressed anger…"

Amy shivered. 'Sonic…' She thought fearfully. 'What's happening to you…? Ever since this travesty with Shadow…you've become less and less like your self… You've become so…angry…and furious at everything… Sonic…why aren't you letting us in on your feelings? Why do you have to bottle up your emotions like this?' She started to cry again.

"Sonic the Hedgehog?"

Sonic looked up. It was Dr. Quack, the head doctor working on Knuckles' emergency surgery. "Dr. Quack!" He stood up and rushed over, grabbing the doctor by the shoulders. "How's Knuckles? Is he ok? Please you have to tell me!"

Dr. Quack pried Sonic off of him. "Calm down! Calm down!" He cleared his throat. "I've got some good news. We were able to repair most of the damage to his hands…the rest of the damage, we had to reinforce with steel wiring. We've managed to restore his hands back to their original shape, but Knuckles will need a few days to heal before he can use his hands again fully again."

Sonic sighed with relief. "Well that's good. I'll tell the others." He walked back to Tails and the girls, forcing a smile to his face, as Dr. Quack followed close behind him. "Guys… Knuckles is gonna be ok. The surgery was a success."

Rouge bolted up immediately. "He's ok? Where is he, I have to see him immediately!" Her misty, bloodshot eyes had a look of urgency in them.

"He's in room 56." Dr. Quack replied. "And you are?"

"Rouge the Bat… I'm his…girlfriend." She blushed lightly.

"Ok, Miss Rouge. I'll allow you to go in and see him. But make it quick, because he'll be going to sleep in a few minutes, after the pills we gave him."

When they arrived at room 56, Rouge carefully pushed the door open and stepped inside. There in a hospital bed, was Knuckles. His hands and wrists were bound up in casts, and he seemed to be half asleep, the only movement he made was light breathing. Rouge crept gracefully over to his bedside, taking a chair and sitting down beside him. "Kn-Knuckles?"

Knuckles opened his eyes slightly and turned to Rouge, a weak smile on his face. "Hi Rouge…" He said quietly and calmly. He lifted up his casts. "Look…they fixed up my hands. It'll be a few days before I heal though…but at least I've still got them."

Rouge let one sob loose before she hugged Knuckles tightly, kissing him all over his face, sobbing into his chest. "_Sniff_…Oh Knuckles…_Sob_…I was so worried about you…if anything happened to you…_whimper_…I don't know what I'd do…"

Knuckles lifted his arms up and returned Rouge's hug. "It's ok Rouge…" He said with a quiet yet soothing voice, kissing her softly. "I'm gonna be ok." Knuckles looked over Rouge's shoulder to see Sonic and the others looking in. He smiled and waved at them as they came toward him.

"Hey Knuckles." Sonic said to his friend with a smile. "How are you holding up?"

"Eh… Not too bad." Knuckles shrugged. "Pain's died down…thank god." He winced in remembrance. It just hurt so badly… I couldn't think, or focus on anything except the horrible pain." He shuddered. "The very bones in my hand were being ground into pieces, and my flesh was being ripped and squished like putty… It was just horrible… It's a miracle that they were able to fix my hands up."

Sonic placed an arm on Knuckles' shoulder. "Knux… I promise you that I'll take care of this. It may not reverse the damage he's done…" He clenched his fist in anger. "But, I'll get Shadow for what he's done to all of us!"

Knuckles smiled and raised a hand. "Give him one for me, Sonic." He yawned softly. "Oh man…the sleeping pills they gave me are starting to kick in…" He said drowsily. "I'm gonna have to sleep now…but I'll see you all when I wake up hopefully…" With those last words, Knuckles fell fast asleep.

Rouge sighed sadly, as she gave Knuckles a kiss on the cheek. She turned to the others, with a resolved look on her face. "Guys… I'd like to stay here with Knuckles and watch over him until he heals. It doesn't feel right for me to just leave him…"

Sonic raised a hand to Rouge, telling her he understood. "It's ok, we understand Rouge." He told her with a smile.

"Please take good care of him." Cream bowed politely to Rouge.

"Try not to over exert yourself while you look after him." Tails added.

Amy winked at Rouge. "Give him a little TLC to help him heal."

Rouge blushed slightly and giggled, winking back. "Oh, he'll be sure to get some."

Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Cream were leaving Central City Hospital, their spirits somewhat lighter than before, knowing their friend was in good hands and on the road to recovery. However, there was still an air of gloom on account of the past tragic events. Since Cream had only just joined with them; Sonic, Tails, and Amy wasted no time in explaining all that happened so far. Needless to say, Cream was shocked beyond belief.

"I don't understand… Why would Shadow act like this? He never used to be this mean…" Cream said sadly.

"The Black Arms either messed up his mind completely, or this has been his true nature all along." Tails informed her.

Sonic sighed angrily. "I tried… I tried reasoning with him, I tried yelling at him, and I tried fighting with him… But it looks like he's already chosen his path…and wants to drag down the whole world with him." He punched into his palm. "I'll be damned if I'm gonna let him get away with this, that's for sure."

"Sonic?"

Sonic turned to Amy, and noticed she was looking at him with concern. "What's wrong Amy?"

"Sonic… This whole ordeal with Shadow…all the travesties… They…They just seem to be bringing out the worst in you, lately." She kept her eyes on him at all times. "I've been watching you. I've been watching you holding back your anger…pushing down all your negative emotions; and you just seem to keep focusing on how much you hate Shadow right now…" A tear slipped out of her eye as she stepped closer to Sonic. "I'm worried about, you Sonic. I'm worried that your anger's going to get the best of you…that you might lose control and something bad might happen. Today, in the hospital…you're outburst showed that you're losing a grip on your emotions." She sniffled. "I'm worried about you."

Sonic had nothing to say at that moment. Amy was right. He had been under a lot of stress and pressure lately, what with all that had happened. He almost lost it in the Hospital with his outburst. How much more could he take or handle? Every time Shadow seemed to sink lower and lower with his actions, Sonic could feel his emotions burning inside of him. He could feel an intense anger and hatred, from watching Shadow commit those heinous acts. He slowly felt himself loosing control over his anger as he tried to suppress his emotions even further. He didn't mean to make Amy, or any of his friends worry like this, but he didn't want to burden them with his own problems. "Amy…" He placed both hand on her shoulders. "I appreciate your concern for my well being… But you don't need to worry. I may have gone off the hook back there…but I've got it under control now. I'm not going to do anything drastic that might endanger anyone." He looked at Amy with soft eyes as he spoke. "You can trust me on that." He winked at her. "Besides, it's not this hedgehog's style to have uncontrollable anger issues." He ruffled Amy's hair gently, making her giggle.

Amy smiled and giggled at the small attention she was getting, and Sonic's reassurance made her feel a little bit more warm and safe. But somewhere deep inside, there still seemed to be a nagging feeling of foreboding…

"OW!"

Sonic and Amy turned around to see Tails clutching his head, while a package lay at his feet.

"Ugh… This package just fell from the sky, right onto my head." He looked around suspiciously. "It must've been some careless postman who threw it."

"There's a note attached to it." Cream pointed out, plucking the piece of paper off. "It's for you, Mr. Sonic." She wandered over and handed Sonic the paper.

Sonic took the note, reading his name on the folded cover and opening it.

_Hello Faker,_

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Shadow… The hell does he want?"

_By now, you must be getting pretty pissed off with all the carnage and destruction I've been causing this planet, I'm guessing, since you and your friends are such heroic do-gooders. Personally, it's all stepping stones for me to become this planet's new dominating ruler with my Black Arms children. But if you want so badly to try and save your precious planet…then I have a proposition for you. Do you remember when the Black Arms first arrived on this planet? Do you remember we met again after so long? Yes, that's right. I'm talking about downtown Westopolis. We will meet there as soon as you arrive._

"So that's it… He wants a final showdown, with just the two of us…" He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. "It looks like he still wants to prove his worth as the Ultimate Life Form. He never changes." Sonic continued to read on.

_Inside the package I've sent, should be a little motivation for you to fight me… And also consider it the plucking off a thorn in your side, that I bet you wished was removed a LONG time ago. Hahahahaha…_

_Sincerely, this planet's future leader, Shadow._

Sonic rose an eyebrow in confusion. "A thorn in my side? One that should've been removed long ago?" He scratched his head for a moment. "What could he be talking about? What thorn's been in…?" He froze on the spot. "A thorn in…long ago…oh no… OH GOD NO!" He scooped up the package and tore the wrapping open. "For god sakes please don't let it be what I think it is…" When Sonic tore open the last of paper…his stomach churned with repulsion and revolt, and jaw dropped in shock.

Tails merely had a look of pure horror as he back away from what Sonic held in his hands.

Cream screamed in fear, and held onto Tails, hiding her face in his tails.

Amy's face paled and her eye widened with terror as she hid behind Sonic, not wanting to look at the heinous object.

Lying in Sonic's hands, sporting its own gaunt look of terror and anguish, soaked in human blood, with the spinal cord still attached and coiled…was the bloody, severed head of Dr. Eggman.

TO BE CONTINUED


	9. Chapter 9

(No better present for Sonic than the severed head of Eggman, eh? Heads will roll soon. Let's just hope they won't be any of the Sonic Team's heads. I don't own Sonic, Shadow, or Egghead…er…Eggman. LOL)

CHAPTER 9

Sonic stood there, mouth agape, looking into the lifeless eyes of Eggman's bloodied head.

The spinal cord dangled from what was left of the neck like a rope, blood dripping and flesh rotting. Eggman's face and mouth were twisted in an expression of pure horror and agony as if he saw his death coming in one moment, and had only enough time to let loose one scream and one scream only.

Sonic opened and closed his mouth a few times, until what happened began to sink in. His grip tightened on Eggman's severed head, his eyes narrowed angrily, and his teeth were grit in pure fury. Without warning he threw the head into the pavement, hard, and he screamed up to the sky so fiercely his mouth foamed. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRGH!" His fists were clenched and he was shaking all over with rage. If you were to look directly in his eyes, you would see flames burning within. "THAT…ANIMAL!" Sonic roared like a demon. He suddenly began to glow a dark blue. "First he destroys the floating Island, and killing most of its inhabitants…then he tortures Knuckles like a war prisoner…AND NOW…THIS!" He pointed furiously at Eggman's head. "He has the gall to rip off this man's head in cold blood and shove it directly in our faces!" His entire body glowed with a blue aura, and his entire body began to turn black, while his eyes slowly began to lose their pupils and shone a blank white. He radiated an energy that depicted negativity, rage, and blood-thirst, as his blackened body continued to tremble with rage.

Tails and the girls, needless to say, stood in a mixture of shock, awe, and horror as they watched the blue blur undergo an ominous transformation. His new black look made him seem more demonic…more threatening…and more dangerous.

Tails was shaking in his shoes as he gazed at his mentor's new look. "S-Sonic?" He asked meekly. "Wh-What's happening to you?"

Cream was trembling terribly and huddled close to Tails. "W-Why's Mr. Sonic all dark and scary looking?" She whimpered, hugging Tails as if her life depended on it.

Amy's worst fears had come true. 'No… His emotions…his rage…they've consumed him… What's he become?' A tear slid down her cheek as she stared at the being that was once the hedgehog she loved. Shuddering, she stepped forward timidly towards Sonic, hoping that she could calm him down. "Sonic? Sonic, please speak to me…"

Sonic turned right around with his white, luminous, pupil-less eyes starring into Amy's own, his face obscured by the darkness of his aura.

Amy let out a small squeak of fear as she backed away. Those eyes…they weren't the warm, confident, caring eyes of her Sonic…

Sonic studied Amy for a moment. Although he was overcome with an insane rage, a part of his mind still studied her with a calm, regretful thought. 'Amy… I'm sorry… I'm sorry you have to see me like this… But my anger's gone out of control now… I'm no longer the Sonic you knew… I'm really sorry…'

"S-Sonic?" Amy asked timidly.

Sonic let out a low growl. "Dark Sonic now…" He said in an eerily calm voice. He crackled his Knuckles. "I've had it…"

"Wh-What?" Amy asked.

"I said… I'VE HAD IT!" Dark Sonic roared up to the sky. "I've had it with HIM! That animal… If he think's I'm going to let him destroy one more life, HE'S GOT ANOTHER THING COMING!" He punched the ground so hard that a gaping hole was left where Dark Sonic's fist was. "Shadow… When I get my hands on him… I'LL GRAB HIM BY HIS HEAD, AND I'LL TEAR HIM IN TWO!" He made a violent tearing motion with his hands.

Tail steeped forward. "Sonic…please calm down. Don't you see? This is just what Shadow wants. He wants you to become angry, so you'll fight him!"

Dark Sonic's aura burned brighter. "A fight huh?" He said sarcastically, envisioning Shadow's sneering face in his mind. "If it's a fight that bastard wants…he's sure as hell going to get one!"

"Sonic, please!" Amy begged, tears in her eyes. "Let us help you. We don't want you to end up like Knuckles did."

"SHADOW IS MINE!" Dark Sonic yelled fiercely not even looking at Amy. "HE'S GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT HE DID TO KNUCKLES! HE'S GOING TO PAY FOR WHAT HE'S DONE TO ALL OF US!" He glared angrily at the sky. "He's going to pay for what he's doing to this planet! I have to stop him before he hurts anymore of my friends!"

"S-Sonic…" Amy couldn't take it anymore. She fell to her knees crying her heart out, burying her face in her hands.

Amy's cries reached Dark Sonic's ears, and he froze. He turned right around and saw Amy Rose kneeling on the concrete sidewalk, defeated and weeping her eyes out. Now not only was his heart filled with rage…but now he started to feel sorrow and regret…he felt horrible for how he just yelled. He didn't mean to yell out like that to Amy or the others, it was just that Shadow had been toying with him, and everyone, and making their lives miserable with his heinous acts…but killing Eggman and shoving his severed head in their face had been the last straw for Sonic… He was emotionally strained and tired by the past events…and now they were coming to a boiling point. Now he had to deal with the source of his rage an anxiety before it got worse. But before he could leave… He had to talk to Amy. He turned in her direction, his blank eyes starting to crinkle in a sorry expression as he walked towards Amy. "Amy…Amy Rose…" He said in a strained voice, not being able to bear her cries.

Amy lifted her head up, sobbing away, and noticed how sad and sorry Dark Sonic looked at the moment. She wiped back the tears and choked back another sob.

Sonic felt terrible, seeing Amy…HIS Amy like this. He lifted one hand and gently cupped her face. For a brief moment, his emerald green irises seemed to materialize back, to look at Amy. "Amy…I'm sorry…I shouldn't have yelled…" He said in a gentle voice, suppressing all the negative energy he felt inside. "But…Eggman's severed head was the last straw for me…for all of us. I have to stop Shadow now, before we all go crazy." He motioned toward his darkened body. "You see this?" He said in a disgusted voice. "All that's happened, all the pain and sorrow from those goddamn Black Arms… It's tearing me up inside, and its turning me into the twisted rage filled creature before you." He shook his head. "Please Amy… Let me do this… I have to do this… If this keeps up, I might do something I might regret."

Amy shook head vigorously. "No! Sonic, I don't want you to get hurt! Please!" Suddenly she was drawn into a tight, warm hug. She could hear Sonic's shuddering breath in hear ear. He was fighting to control his anger, and fighting the urge to weep himself. But she could feel wetness on her shoulder…and she knew. Sonic was weeping.

Sonic pulled away from Amy, and his eyes became blank and white again, but now, hot tears spilled from them. "Amy…Tails…Cream…" He closed his eyes, hard. "I'M SORRY!" He blasted off at a speed, normally not possible unless he was Super Sonic.

"Sonic! Wait!" Amy yelled after him, reaching out. Amy hit the ground with both fists in frustration and started to bawl like a baby. She cried because Sonic was in his own personal pit of hell and turmoil, and there was nothing she could do. She was so grief stricken; she barely even noticed Tails and Cream comforting her.

"Amy…please don't cry…" Tails said with a wavering voice. "It's going to be alright."

"SOB But…sniffle…I'm afraid…Sonic's falling through a downward spiral…and…SOB…I can't do anything to help him…" She hugged Tails tightly. "Tails, what can I do?" She bawled.

Tails hugged Amy back, along with Cream. He shut his eyes, allowing his own tears to fall. 'I wish I knew Amy…' He thought. He looked up to the sky. 'Please be alright Sonic… Come back to us… We need you… Amy needs you…'

Dark Sonic sped across the gritty, worn, asphalt road, his tears of pain and anguish trickling from his face as he cried. "Amy…Tails…Cream… I'm sorry… I'm sorry to all of you. I couldn't save Angel Island from being destroyed… I couldn't save the GUN soldiers from certain death… I…I couldn't even save Knuckles… I'm a failure as hero…and a friend…and now look what've I become." He shuddered, ashamed of his dark form. "But if there's one thing I can do… It's to kill the monster that started this whole mess!" He narrowed his eyes. "Shadow…you will pay for what you've done to me…to Knuckles…to Eggman…to EVERYONE!" He rushed through the city streets, bound for his one destination: Westopolis.

Meanwhile, in Westopolis…

Shadow walked slowly through the deserted ruins of Westopolis. The city was a ghost town now. All the residents had either been killed or evacuated. "Here's where it all started…" He said. "It's where I met the Black Arms…where I learned my true purpose." He smashed through a slab of rubble. "And this will also be the final resting place of my nemesis. That little present I left for him should be enough convincing…" He laughed cruelly as he imagined what had happened. "He should be here any minute now." He suddenly felt a gust of wind blow fiercely behind his back and smiled. "So you've come…" He turned around, and stared directly at Dark Sonic. "Hmm… Black and Dark Blue aren't really your color." He joked.

Sonic fought to keep his rage down, which slowly reverted him back to his regular form of light blue, but he was still feeling strong resentment towards Shadow. "Now you listen to me Shadow…" He pointed a finger at his ebony furred foe. "This has gone on long enough! You've killed innocent lives. You've destroyed homes. You even went so far as to torture a friend of mine to death. But killing off a close acquaintance and shoving his decapitated head in my face? That was the last straw. This ends NOW Shadow."

Shadow chuckled, shaking his head at the light blue hedgehog. "Poor, poor Sonic…" His Black Arms robe faded away, and his demonic yellow eyes reverted back to their normal red irises that everyone was familiar with. "Did you also have a fight with your friends?" He chastised.

Sonic snarled. "Leave them out of this! It's bad enough they had to see me transform into some rage filled, time bomb. They don't need you picking on them when they can't even defend themselves!" He took a look around their surroundings. "So here we are again. We met here after so long…I thought the past events had meant something to you. I thought you'd help us rid our planet of the Black Arms…but it looks like I was wrong…" He closed his eyes and growled. "Now you don't have a single good bone in your body."

"Oh, you only just noticed?" Shadow asked sarcastically. "You're fast physically, but slow mentally." He laughed.

Sonic just snorted. "Stuff it Shadow. I'm not in the mood for wise cracks right now." He cracked his knuckles as he stared Shadow down. "So where are we fighting? Are we doing it right here, or in the Black Comet?"

"Right here is fine enough, by me." Shadow confirmed. "Now we can begin, and we'll finally see which one of us is the more powerful hedgehog. Try not to hold back." He grinned nastily.

"Oh I don't intend to hold back…" Sonic said in a low voice. "I intend to kick your ass to the moon and back, that's what."

"Hmm… Tough talk, Faker. But can you pull it off?" Shadow goaded. "Think about all the magnificent power I have. The Black Arms…the Chaos Emeralds…the Master Emerald… What little hope do you have of defeating me?"

"It may be just a little hope…" Sonic informed. "But even a little hope is all that's needed. And a little hope is what's going to help me take YOU down."

"I see… Well then let's see what's stronger. Will it be my power? Or will it be your hope?" Shadow raised a glowing hand. "CHAOS SPEAR!" He launched 3 bolts of chaos at Sonic.

Sonic jumped over Shadow's bolts quickly and started spinning into a ball and performing his "Homing Attack," launching himself directly at Shadow.

Shadow followed suit, spinning into ball form and launching his own Homing Attack.

Both hedgehogs bounced, span, and ricocheted off one another, each trying to knock down the other. They span and shot at each other from random angles so fast, that it looked like a tornado of blue and black spinning in place until both bounced off each other and landed back onto the ground.

Sonic knelt down and started to rev up like a turbo engine as he was about to blast off with a spin dash. But instead, bounced back slightly, shooting an energy shockwave at Shadow.

"CHAOS GUARD!" Shadow generated a small field of chaos energy in front of him, and absorbed Sonic's attack in a moment. Shadow shook his head, laughing. "It's not good enough, Faker. CHAOS MAGIC!" He snapped his finger, and a small burst of chaos energy erupted on top of Sonic.

"GOOOOOOOUUUUUUH!" Sonic was engulfed in a blast of chaos energy and left with singed fur and some 1st degree burns on his skin. But instead falling to his knees, he merely produced 4 power rings in his hand, and launched them one after another, but neither of them seemed to hit Shadow, nor were they aiming for him, except for one which he caught in mid-air.

Shadow was puzzled. "What the hell? Are you that disoriented, or are you just stupid?"

Sonic just smirked. "I'd prefer the term, sneaky." He span in mid-air in ball form. "It's time for Sonic Drive!" He shot in a perfect beeline towards the nearest ring, which Shadow held in his hands, and smacked him into the air.

Shadow felt the impact of Sonic's body barreling into him and was carried into the air, where the other 3 rings were hovering. It was there that he suddenly felt Sonic attacking him from various sides.

Sonic used the placement of the rings; the one in Shadow's hand and the 3 surrounding him in various spots, and used his Sonic Drive ability, combined with his Light Dash (to lock onto the rings), and proceeded to surrounded Shadow with a flurry of attacks. 'This is what he gets for screwing around with my friends!" He yelled mentally.

"ENOUGH!" Shadow yelled. "CHAOS MAGIC!" He suddenly disappeared, causing Sonic to loose his focus on his attack, and allowing Shadow to reappear behind Sonic and blast him with a field of Chaos, knocking him down to the ground.

Sonic, however, was not giving up so easily and he merely touched the ground with both feet, before bouncing back in a pursuit attack, surprising Shadow long enough to knock HIM out of the air with Sonic Eagle, slamming Shadow with an axe kick and sending him straight into the pavement below. He watched as Shadow hit the ground like a meteor, sending dirt, gravel and dried tar through the air. Sonic landed next to the crater and waited for the dust to clear. He looked into the crater, and saw a worse for wear Shadow struggling to get up. "How does it feel?" Sonic asked with bitterness. "How does it feel to be the one on the receiving end of the punishment?" He sighed. "Shadow… I'm going to give you one more chance. Open your eyes, and see how the Black Arms are using you!"

Shadow started to laugh. He was…amused. "Heh heh heh heh… Hahahaha… BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!" He roared with laughter as he stood up with ease. "Hahahaha…Ha…you idiot!" He sneered at Sonic. "I'm under NO mind control! I did this of my OWN free will! I don't give a damn about Gerald, Maria, you, OR your idiot friends! FUCK THEM! FUCK THEM!"

Sonic stomped the ground. "They're NOT idiots! Don't ever call them that! You have no right to insult them!" He could feel his rage building up, and felt himself becoming Dark Sonic once more.

"I'm the Ultimate Life Form!" Shadow screamed. "I CAN DO WHATEVER I LIKE!" He began to burn with chaos energy. Suddenly, the 7 Chaos Emeralds appeared circling around Shadow as he began to levitate out of the crater. He rose into the sky, and glared at Sonic with a false omnipotent look, as the Master Emerald appeared underneath his feet. "Now…" Shadow said as the multicolored emeralds circled around him, and the giant green emerald floated underneath his feet. "Now you shall see Sonic… You shall see my true power! I am Shadow! I am the Ultimate Life Form, and the leader of the Black Arms!" He started to glow brighter as he started to rapidly drain the emeralds of their power.

Suddenly, in the sky, the deadly form of the Black Comet, the base of the Black Arms, appeared to loom over the battlefield. Hordes of the Black Arms soldiers began pouring out of the sky and flying towards the field. But it wasn't to join the fight… The moment they approached in air space, they were all sucked into the Master Emerald as if it were a great crystal vacuum, and seemed to add to Shadow's power gain.

"The very essence of the Black Arms shall fuel my vast power, along with the emeralds." Shadow announced, before he and the emerald started to follow the exact trail of Black Arms that they were absorbing, right into the Black Comet.

Sonic watched in horror, as the Black Comet began to crumble and hatch as if it were a giant egg. Something truly terrifying was about to come forth… The Black Comet blew apart like a super nova, filling the sky with blinding white light, causing Sonic to shield his eyes. When the light dimmed down, and Sonic looked toward the sky, his jaw dropped in shock and terror as he saw the creature before him. Its giant, red and black, reptilian body was reminiscent of the Black Arms, especially Black Doom and the Black Bull, but it had thick fur, like Shadow and even massive quills. Its shape was very reminiscent of an organic version of Metal Sonic's monstrous "Metal Overlord" form, from its great scaly wings, to its multi-eyed, razor tooth jawed face to its great spindly arms. Sonic felt the last of his anger consume his being and fully transformed into his "Dark" form. He glared angrily at the beast before him. "So… You've show your true colors… I've been calling you a monster for a while, but now you really are one!" Dark Sonic floated up into the air, feeling the negative emotions surging through him. "All this negative energy and rage in my body… I've squeezed it all into a bitter little ball, but now I have to release it in the right way…" He pointed a finger at Shadow's monstrous face. "And the right way would be to kick your ugly ass to hell, Devil Shadow!"

Devil Shadow eyed its prey hungrily, and roared a primal scream before flying towards its target.

TO BE CONTINUED


	10. Chapter 10

(Here we are…the Final Battle. It's Sonic VS Shadow in a battle for the planet. Who will reign victorious? Read and find out! I don't own Sonic, Shadow, or the Black Arms. They're all owned by SEGA. Now, let's get it on!)

CHAPTER 10

Sonic watched in horror, as the Black Comet began to crumble and hatch as if it were a giant egg. Something truly terrifying was about to come forth… The Black Comet blew apart like a super nova, filling the sky with blinding white light, causing Sonic to shield his eyes. When the light dimmed down and Sonic looked toward the sky, his jaw dropped in shock and terror as he saw the creature before him.

Its giant, red and black, reptilian body was reminiscent of the Black Arms, especially Black Doom and the Black Bull, but it had thick fur, like Shadow and even massive quills. Its shape was very reminiscent of an organic version of Metal Sonic's monstrous "Metal Overlord" form, from its great scaly wings, to its multi-eyed, razor tooth jawed face to its great spindly arms. Sonic felt the last of his anger consume his being and fully transformed into his "Dark" form. He glared angrily at the beast before him. "So… You've show your true colors… I've been calling you a monster for a while, but now you really are one!" Dark Sonic floated up into the air, feeling the negative emotions surging through him. "All this negative energy and rage in my body… I've squeezed it all into a bitter little ball, but now I have to release it in the right way…" He pointed a finger at Shadow's monstrous face. "And the right way would be to kick your ugly ass to hell, Devil Shadow!"

Devil Shadow eyed its prey hungrily, and roared a primal scream before flying towards its target.

Dark Sonic darted off to the side and started floating around Devil Shadow, angrily firing "Chaos Spears" at the beast's eyes.

Devil Shadow growled in annoyance and swatted at the "insect" before it, trying to smack him away. It had Dark Sonic directly in its sights, and started to fire its needle sharp spines at him in a steady stream.

Dark Sonic dodged and weaved through the "rocket spines" being fired at him. "Agh! This is just like when I fought against Metal Overlord! Only difference is, I don't have Tails and Knuckles with me, this time…" He ducked another spine coming his way, before firing a Chaos Spear at another, only to see Devil Shadow charging right at him with his claws out. Dark Sonic moved all around erratically to avoid the repetitive, equally erratic slashes from Devil Shadow, trying not to get grazed by those huge claws. He reared back, and shot a Chaos Spear right at the beast's jaw.

Devil Shadow squealed in pain as the soft, moist fleshiness of its mouth was fired upon. It smacked its lips as it tasted blood, which dripped from its now bleeding gums. Without warning, its massive tail shot at Dark Sonic like a whip, whipping him across the side, sending him sailing through the air.

Dark Sonic managed to regain his balance and launched a pursuit attack at Devil Shadow's face, smacking it right across the cheek and jaw before unleashing a 4 kick air combo to the beast's face, sending it flying backwards. "Take that, you reptilian son of a bitch!" Dark Sonic yelled.

Devil Shadow halted in mid-air and made and seemed to hug itself with both arms with its fists clenched. It gave its wings one mighty flap and charged towards Dark Sonic like a mad bull.

Dark Sonic rolled to the side, letting the Black Arms beast dash right past him. He fired a Chaos Spear right at the monster's backside as he bolted past. "Hey! What do you think you are; a runaway truck or something? Oh SHIT!" Dark Sonic was bombarded with a shower of quill "missiles" that came at him like a swarm of angry bees, and stung like them too. "Get…offa me!" Dark Sonic generated an energy field around him, deflecting the remaining spines while he rocketed towards Dark Shadow's tail, grabbing it in mid air. "Gotcha, Shadow!" His enhanced strength made it possible for him to attain a good grip, and to keep Devil Shadow from getting away. "Time to go for a spin, Faker!" Dark Sonic started spinning Devil Shadow around like a ball and chain mace. Faster and faster he spun, until they were just a circular blur of black and blue. Then Sonic let go, throwing Devil Shadow into the remains of a ruined building sending stone, concrete, and gravel all over the place.

Devil Shadow roared in anger as it charged at Dark Sonic, snapping its jaws at the small hedgehog.

Dark Sonic tried to fly as far away as possible to avoided getting chomped on by the giant creature, but found it difficult as the snapping seemed to closely resemble Shadow's former Sonic-type speed. Dark Sonic was trying his best to avoid becoming Devil Shadow's lunch, but…

CHOMP!

Devil Shadow snapped up Dark Sonic in its massive jaws as hard as it could, but its prey was not content on becoming anyone's supper as it soon discovered.

Dark Sonic pushed up with all his strength against Devil Shadow's upper jaw, and slowly started to force the monster's mouth open, despite meeting resistance from the opposing beast's jaws. "URGH! You think you could just eat me for breakfast? I might give you indigestion! Sonic Wind!" Dark Sonic span around, generating a high blast of wind energy throughout Devil Shadow's mouth, and caused the creature to yelp and spit him up. "Yuck! Didn't you ever brush your teeth when you were still in hedgehog form?" He asked sarcastically. 'Ugh, this is no good. He's not taking any damage whatsoever!' Dark Sonic thought with frustration. 'Why the hell did I decide to fight this guy alone…? I didn't expect him to undergo this transformation…' Dark Sonic felt himself beginning to lose hope.

Meanwhile, back outside Tails' workshop…

Tails looked up at the skies anxiously. "They could be anywhere right now." He sighed. Sonic had been gone WAY too long and he was beginning to worry. He and the girls had tried to make a journey into Westopolis to at least give Sonic some needed assistance, but by the time they got there, the roads to Westopolis seemed to be barricaded by Black Arms attack ships which had their shields turned on to full blast. Not wanting to initiate any unnecessary combat or being able to find any route around, they were left with no choice but to flee. All Tails could do now was sit, wait and prey for his mentor and friend. "Sonic… Wherever you are… Please be ok, and come back to us." He suddenly felt a small body embrace him from behind, and a pair of lips bruise his cheek with a kiss. "Cream…"

Cream sat down next to Tails and laid her head against his shoulder with worry. "Tails… I'm worried about Mr. Sonic. Is he going to come through this alright?"

Tails looked sadly at Cream for a moment before turning back to the sky. "To be honest Cream… I don't know… I wish I knew the answer but I don't. Right now, all we can do is pray. We can only pray that Sonic will come through for all of us." He kissed Cream back on her cheek. But whatever happens, Cream, I'll be there for you and protect you." He embraced her gently.

When Devil Shadow started to regain air time, it roared in anger, as it swooped upwards into the sky, until it was hovering right above Dark Sonic. It started to flap it wings wildly and quickly, so fast that started to generate gale force winds, threatening to ground Dark Sonic, or cause him to loose his balance in the air.

Dark Sonic felt himself being tossed around in the high winds, like a windswept kite, and found it difficult to maintain a steady course. "Ugh… These winds… I can't…maintain…good flight…" He grunted as he tried to keep himself from plummeting.

Devil Shadow had its opponent in its sights now. Opening up its massive jaws, it started breathing out a dangerous light beam.

With the wind blowing him back and forth, Dark Sonic was barely able to dodge the ray that came hurtling towards him. But it didn't end there, as another ray came streaking across the sky towards him. He ducked down grudgingly, due to the gale force, and narrowly missed the ray, which managed to singe the ends of his quills a bit. Sadly, the third mouth beam shot out without warning and hit Dark Sonic dead on. If not for his invincibility aura he would have been fried like a hamburger, so he was merely sent twirling backwards from the battle, propelled by both the impact of the beam and the gale force wind.

Devil Shadow wasn't about to let its prey go so easily, however, and it flew straight after Dark Sonic. Its tail started to rear up, and it shook violently as the beast flew closer. When it was close enough, Devil Shadow fired out his tail like a grappling hook and lashed around Dark Sonic in a tight, crushing grip.

Dark Sonic squirmed and writhed in the squeezing deathtrap of Devil Shadow's tails. This was more than he could handle, even with his "Dark Form." 'Can't…move…damn, his tail's stronger than a steel chain.' Dark Sonic thought. 'How am I going to…?' "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Dark Sonic suddenly felt his very power being drained from his body. "What the hell's Shadow doing to me?"

Devil Shadow eyed Dark Sonic intently like a hawk watching a small mouse. Its play was successful and now all it had to do was use its chaos power to siphon out Dark Sonic's power and make him weak and edible…then he would suffer.

Dark Sonic felt all the negative energy within him being sucked out at an alarming rate and he slowly began to lose his dark blue aura, his eyes regained their emerald green irises and his blackened fur slowly began to turn cobalt blue once more a she reverted back to regular old Sonic. With all the negativity and rage sucked from his body, Sonic could feel himself thinking more clearly and level headed in addition to feeling more intense pain from Devil Shadow's death grip.

'What was I thinking?' Sonic thought somberly. 'I let all of my hatred; anger and anxiety take me over. I should've tried to stay clam and cool… I should've reached out to my friends and let them help me… Damn it, what was I thinking? What made me think I could handle Shadow, when he had the Master Emerald and all 7 Chaos Emeralds at his disposal? Now I'm paying the price… Everyone gonna pay the price…all because I made such a STUPID mistake…' Sonic the Hedgehog opened one eye to see the Black Arms beast, that was once his rival, Shadow the Hedgehog, as it lifted its tail to its demonic face, staring at Sonic almost with a taunting look as if to say, "Do you see now, Faker? Do you see how weak and pathetic you are? I'm STILL the Ultimate Life Form…and you? You're lunch!"

Sonic shut his eyes as he felt the pain intensify. 'No! This can't be the end! I can't let Shadow beat me! Guys… If you can hear me…please give me your strength…I need your help more than ever!'

Tails suddenly froze. "S-Sonic?"

Cream looked up at the fox boy. "Tails? What's wrong?"

"I…I thought I just heard Sonic!" Tails exclaimed.

'GUYS!'

Now, both Tails and Cream heard Sonic's voice in their minds.

Back in Station Square, inside of Amy's house…

Amy sat at the edge of her bed, hugging her Sonic plushy tightly, rocking back and forth. She couldn't stop worrying about Sonic, and couldn't stop feeling sorry for herself about how she couldn't do a thing to help him. 'Sonic…' She thought. 'Why couldn't I tell you how I felt sooner…? Why'd you have to leave just like that? Now you're so far away from me…no, not just me. You're far away from all of us. Why didn't you tell us sooner? Why did you have to keep all your emotions bottled up and your problems to yourself?' Amy looked out through her bedroom window, and a small tear trickled down her cheek. "Sonic… I miss you…"

'GUYS!'

Amy suddenly heard her hero's voice through her mind. "S-Sonic?" She looked all around. "Where are you?"

'Tails…Cream…Amy! Are you there?'

She heard Sonic's voice again in her mind.

'Tails? Cream? Amy? I need help! I'm in terrible trouble and I need your help! Shadow's used all the powers of the Chaos Emeralds and the Master Emerald on himself, and even absorbed all of his own soldiers. He's now become a giant flying monster and he's about to kill me. I've been rid of all of my negative energy and rage, but I'm powerless now! I need all of you to believe in me, and give me your power.'

In Central City Hospital, Knuckles and Rouge could also hear Sonic's voice in their minds.

'Link your minds with mine, focus on all the time we've had together. The positive Energies of the Chaos Emeralds just might react to the positive emotion and energies…and if they do, then I can break out of Shadow's clutches and save this planet. What do you say? Will you help me out?'

Knuckles closed his eyes and focused. 'Sonic…' He started to glow.

Rouge followed her boyfriend's lead and looked inside of her heart. 'Sonic…' She too began to glow.

Tails and Cream heeded the words of their friend and started to think about him. 'Sonic…' Both children began to glow.

Amy shut her eyes tightly and her heart brought forth all of her memories of Sonic, and the time they had together. She too started to glow brightly. 'Sonic…please come back to us…you can win this fight…'

Sonic the Hedgehog suddenly felt a warm feeling deep within his heart. That warm feeling started to spread. He could feel it all through his body and mind now and he began to glow with a light blue aura around him.

Before Devil Shadow could react, 7 multicolored lights began to shine within its body and it seemed to cause it a great deal of pain, as it clutched its chest and grunted in agony. The shining only intensified and the pain only grew before Devil shadow roared in pain, and the 7 Chaos Emeralds shot right out of its mouth.

The 7 Chaos Emerald began to circle around Sonic the Hedgehog and shone in response to the positive energy he resonated. '7 Chaos Emerald…please give me your power…give me the power to vanquish this evil!' Sonic could feel the energies of the 7 Chaos Emeralds fill him with their power, and could feel the hearts and minds of his friends. They may not have been there physically, but they were with him in spirit. His eyes shot open and in he was engulfed by brilliant white light. When the light dimmed down…the glittering golden yellow form of Super Sonic floated there, ready for action. "I can feel it…" He held a hand to his heart. "I can fell my friends…they're with me…my hope has gotten stronger…" He stared directly at Devil Shadow. "Now YOU will see, Shadow… My hope and my faith in my friends are stronger than all your 'power.'" Super Sonic grabbed a hold of Devil Shadow's tail with both hands gripping tightly and he freed himself, pulling the tail apart.

Devil Shadow screeched in pain and agony as it felt the very end of its tail ripped off. It flailed its tail about, the end oozing with black blood splattering the life giving liquid everywhere.

"Sonic Wind!" Super Sonic threw a swirling tornado of energy at Devil Shadow blasting him right in the chest before launching a fully charged "Chaos Spear" directly at the beast's eyes, blinding him with the intense energy. "Alright Shadow… It's time to end this… I wish there was another way…but you brought this on yourself…" Super Sonic drew upon all of his energy. "Chaos Control!" Super Sonic shot towards Devil Shadow in a flash of light, and shot straight down the monster's throat, blasted all the way through its entire body destroying muscle tissue, rupturing organs, and just killing Devil Shadow from the inside, before bursting out of the beasts' chest in a shower of black blood, the Master Emerald in his hands.

Devil Shadow screamed, blood erupting from its chest and mouth a sit slowly began to die. But the worst for it was yet to come.

"Chaos Control!" Super Sonic grabbed Devil Shadow by what was left of its tail and shot through the sky with Chaos Control…though the stratosphere, and into the dark depths of space…until he reached just outside of the Sun's orbit. Sonic looked upon the giant blazing star, which was the very center of the universe.

"This ends now…" He started to spin Devil Shadow around once more, faster and faster in a bright golden blurry circle. He let go, throwing Shadow directly into the sun, but not before giving one last pursuit and delivering a swift Super Sonic Eagle axe kick directly at Devil Shadow's neck, ripping the beasts head off of it's body and spraying the last of it's black blood throughout space. Super Sonic then watched as the remains of the beast that was once Shadow the Hedgehog plummeted into the sun's atmosphere, where they burned to nothing. Super Sonic sighed out loud, feeling as though a great burden had been lifted off of him. "Shadow…rest in peace…" He said quietly before flying back to Earth.

Tails and Cream were outside watching the stars, when they suddenly saw the image of a golden figure shoot across the window. They knew of only one person that it could be.

"Tails! Did you see that?" Cream said excitedly.

"I sure did!" Tails was ecstatic. "Sonic did it! He came back! He won!"

Knuckles lay in his hospital bed that night, looking out the night sky, when hey too saw Super Sonic shoot across the sky like a shooting star. "Rouge! It's Sonic! Well…It's Super Sonic, but it's Sonic nonetheless!"

"What?" Rouge poked her head outside of the window just in time to see Super Sonic's form disappearing over the horizon. She smiled to herself. "Well, I'll be…he did it…he saved everyone…"

Super Sonic shot across the night sky, feeling the cool night air blow against his face. "I did it… I actually beat him… I avenged everyone who died by his hands…and saved everyone else before he could get to them… Now I just have one more thing to take care of…Amy." He stopped his flight just above Station Square, right near Amy's house, and he began to float down towards her bedroom window. He peered inside and saw Amy lying on her bed, sleeping and holding her plushy of Sonic close to her chest. He could see tears streaks on her cheeks, showing that she must've cried herself to sleep. "Amy… I'm sorry about everything that's happened… I want to make it up to you…" He said, before gently tapping on the window.

Amy's eyes shot open, as she heard a faint tapping sound. Sitting up from the bed, she turned to her window and gasped. Right outside, was the shining, golden furred, smiling form of Super Sonic. She flew from her bed and tore the window open. "Sonic? Is that you?"

Super Sonic floated into Amy's room and landed right in front of her, before powering down back to normal. Sonic smiled at his number one fan. "Yes Amy it's me. I'm back and blue." He winked at her giving her a thumbs up.

"Sonic…" Amy felt tears well up in her eyes. "Oh Sonic!" She sobbed before throwing her arms around Sonic and hugging him of dear life, crying into his chest. "SOB…You stupid jerk!" She bawled. "Look how much you made everyone worry! sniffle"

Sonic returned Amy's hug, stroking her back gently. "I know… I know…" He told her gently. "I'm sorry… I'm sorry I didn't tell you or the others. I should've opened up to you about my emotions, but I didn't…" He hugged her tightly. "It's ok now…" He soothed. "I'm here for you… I won't ever leave you again."

Amy's cries began to subside to small sniffles. "Sonic…"

"Yes Amy?"

"Kiss me…"

Sonic's eyes widened and he started to blush. "Wh-what?"

Amy looked up at him with innocent eyes and rosy cheeks. "Please kiss me… I want to know that you're really here…that it's not some dream…please…"

Sonic felt that warm feeling return, but only this time it wasn't because of the emeralds…but it was of a form of positive energy…love. 'Why do I feel so warm and funny? Do I…? Do I love Amy Rose?' "A-Alright then… Close your eyes Amy…" When Amy had closed her eyes, Sonic began to lean towards her, drawing closer and closer to her face, before pressing his own lips against hers in a kiss.

Amy felt her heart soar as she felt Sonic lips touch her own. 'He's kissing me! He's actually kissing me!' She thought with bliss and happiness. 'Sonic… You really do care… Oh god… I love you…I love you so much!'

Sonic meanwhile was having equally elated thoughts. 'Wow… This feels so good… Who am I kidding? I DO love Amy Rose… I was too blind to notice it before… She's really a sweet innocent girl who just needs someone to care about her…'

When the two hedgehogs parted, both stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like an eternity.

"Sonic…" Amy Rose said with a cute smile on her lovely features. "I love you…"

Sonic smiled as he drew Amy close to him. "I love you too, Amy Rose…" He drew her in for one more, sweet kiss.

THE END


End file.
